Lay beliefs about intuition in health decision-making contexts

Intuition—a fast and automatic form of cognitive processing—can inform decisions. Although quantitative studies have examined people’s use of intuition in health contexts, little qualitative research has explored lay people’s perceptions about how they use intuition to make health decisions. U.S. adults ( N = 315, M age = 44.83; 48.3% men; 74.6% White) recruited online answered survey items concerning the extent to which they rely on their “intuition” and “gut-feeling” when making health decisions and then explained their responses in text boxes. Open-ended responses were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Three themes were generated: in health decision-making contexts, intuition was (1) described as intangible , (2) thought to develop through knowledge acquisition, and (3) viewed as one tool in the toolbox such that people rely on intuition along with other sources to guide decision making. Participants described using intuition in widespread ways when making health decisions. Implications for patient-provider communication are discussed.