CÁNCER DE COLON CÁNCER DE RECTO

On a scale from 1 (not at all) to 7 (to a large extent), the Rechtwijzer group reported a very low amount of mutual trust between them and the seller of the product (average of 2.51). Almost half of the Rechtwijzer group (45.9%) indicated to experience no to a very low amount of mutual trust (a score between 1 and 2).

On a scale from 1 (almost no contact) to 7 (a lot of contact), the Rechtwijzer group indicated to have a moderate amount of contact at the moment of responding, namely an average of 4.07, but estimated to have much less contact in the future, namely an average of 1.75.

In the first post-test, the Rechtwijzer group answered the same question with an average of 2.81. This was a significant difference compared to the pre-test, meaning the amount of contact with the vendor decreased considerably (-1.26) in the period between both tests. The same analysis was done for the control group, which showed that they experienced a significant decrease in the amount of

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Not at all 2 3 4 5 6 To a large

extent

Conflict has ended

Conflict has not yet ended

contact with the vendor as well (-0.74). The difference between the Rechtwijzer and control groups was explained by a difference in those who had already solved their conflict at the time of the first post-test. Respondents in the Rechtwijzer group who had already solved their conflict, indicated to have had significantly more contact with the vendor of their product (3.50) than respondents in the control group who had already solved their conflict (2.59). This might indicate an effect of Rechtwijzer, which could have incited consumers to talk to or write to the vendor in order to find a solution.

In the first post-test, respondents were asked how they would characterize the communication with the vendor of their product. They could describe the communication using 6 two-sided scales ranging from -2 (negative/low quality) to +2 (positive/high quality). The Rechtwijzer group gave an assessment of their communication with the vendor -1, which is fairly negative.

Steps taken

The majority of the Rechtwijzer group (39.8%) had already sent a letter to the vendor, but had not yet sent their case to the Consumer Complaints Boards. Compared to the control group (26.7%), more respondents in the Rechtwijzer group sent a letter to the vendor, possibly because Rechtwijzer offers a special tool to create such a letter.

3.2.8 Implications Satisfaction

In the Rechtwijzer group, respondents were generally slightly unsatisfied with how the conflict process was going. On a scale from 1 (not at all) to 7 (to a large extent), respondents in the Rechtwijzer group who had not finished their conflict yet gave an average answer of 2.27 when asked how satisfied they were with process. This was significantly different from the answer of respondents in the Rechtwijzer group that had already finished their conflict. They gave an average answer of 3.00. The control group showed a similar pattern, namely respondents that had already finished their conflict were more satisfied with the process than respondents that had not. For respondents whose conflicts were ongoing, there was no difference between the control group, who gave an average of 2.43, and the Rechtwijzer group, who gave an 2.27. However, respondents in the control group who had already finished their conflict gave an average answer of 3.85 when asked how satisfied they were with the process. This was significantly higher than respondents in the Rechtwijzer group who had already finished their conflict, since they gave an average answer of 3.00. The exact results are presented once more in Figure 37.

Figure 37. Level of satisfaction

Level of stress

On a scale from 1 (not at all) to 7 (to a large extent), the Rechtwijzer group reported an average stress level of 4.57. This means they perceived a moderate amount of stress during their consumer conflict. A total of 23% of the Rechtwijzer group indicated to experience very high levels of stress, namely a score between 6 and 7.

In the first post-test, the Rechtwijzer group indicated their level of stress with an average of 3.83. There was no significant difference between respondents that had and respondents that had not yet finished their conflict. When examining the difference scores between the first and second measurement, this difference between both measurements proved to be significant, indicating level of stress of the Rechtwijzer group decreased considerably (-0.73).

The same analysis was done for the control group. Respondents in the control group who had already finished their conflict gave an average answer of 2.68 when asked for their level of stress. This was significantly less than respondents in the control group who had not finished their conflict yet, since they gave an average answer of 3.23 (see Figure 38).

To see whether these results could be characterised as a difference of Rechtwijzer, we compared the control group to the Rechtwijzer group. These comparisons showed no significant results, meaning the decrease in level of stress was not significantly different for the control group compared to the Rechtwijzer group (see Figure 38). Perhaps the reason that the perceived level of stress decreased for both groups might be that merely being heard, venting or reflecting on the conflict, by filling in the questionnaire, already offers some form of emotional help and therefore reduces the level of stress. This makes it difficult to purely measure the effect of Rechtwijzer, but indicates that being heard could be an important factor in decreasing stress levels.

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Rechtwijzer group Control group

Conflict has not yet ended Conflict has ended

Figure 38. Perceived levels of stress

Level of escalation

The average level of conflict escalation of respondents in the Rechtwijzer group was 2.83 (on a scale from 1 to 5), which means that their conflicts were moderately escalated. We also asked whether the problems in the conflict were increasing or decreasing, with the help of a 5-point scale ranging from ‘much smaller’ (1) to ‘much larger’ (5). The average answer was a 3.54, indicating the problems of the Rechtwijzer group were getting larger over time. In the Rechtwijzer group, 6.8% experienced a highly escalated conflict, and 10.6% indicated that their problems were rapidly escalating. When comparing the Rechtwijzer group to the control group, results show that the conflicts of the latter group are less escalated than the conflicts of the Rechtwijzer group, both in phase and direction of the conflict.

In the first post-test, results showed that the Rechtwijzer group indicated to be in a significantly less escalated phase in their conflict, with an average answer of 2.58. The direction of the escalation differed between respondents that had already finished their conflict in the first post-test, who gave an average answer of 2.28, and respondents that had not, who gave an average answer of 3.16. However, both experienced significantly less escalation compared to the pre-test.

The control group experienced a significant decrease of escalation in their conflicts as well. However, there was a significant difference in the size of the decrease between respondents that had already finished their conflict (-0.70) and those who had not (-0.22). Respondents who had already finished their conflict indicated they were in a significantly less escalated phase in their conflict than in the pre-test. This difference was not significant for respondents who had not finished their conflict yet.

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Rechtwijzer group Control group

Pre-test First post-test

Figure 39. Levels of escalation

Comparing these results to the results in the divorce section shows that respondents with a consumer conflict did experience a less escalated phase in their conflict in the first post-test, whereas respondents dealing with a divorce did not. This might be because a substantial amount of the consumer conflicts take less time to solve than divorces, making it possible to already reach a less escalated phase after the short amount of time between both tests.

3.2.9 Conclusion

To conclude, the Rechtwijzer group gave a positive evaluation of Rechtwijzer. Respondents graded the website very positively with an average grade of 7.29, were inclined to recommend the website to others and were positive about the given advice. Respondents seemed to come back to the website and were willing to use the website again. We measured an increase in self-efficacy when measured directly, as opposed to indirectly, which suggests a short term effect of Rechtwijzer on self-efficacy beliefs related to the conflict process.

The visitors of Rechtwijzer’s consumer section were dealing with relatively high stakes conflicts, involving large amounts of money. Although the majority of the respondents had not asked for the help of a third party yet, the Rechtwijzer group indicated a significantly higher need for the help of a third party than the control group. The most frequently contacted third party was the Juridisch Loket. In the Rechtwijzer group, the majority of the respondents did not have legal expenses insurance. As expected, those with legal expenses insurance often used this resource to gain information or help in their conflict. In the Rechtwijzer group, there were more uninsured respondents than in the control group. This suggests that Rechtwijzer fills an important gap. The Juridisch Loket and Rechtwijzer thus seemed to succeed in providing information and legal aid to their target groups, for instance people with low incomes.

We also looked at risk factors in consumer conflicts, such as stress and escalation. The consumer conflicts in this study tended to generate a considerable amount of stress. About a quarter of the respondents experienced extremely high levels of stress. Participants reported a decrease in stress between the first and second measurement. This could have been an effect of participating in the study, which could have generated an opportunity for venting, reflection or have created the effect

0 1 2 3 4 Rechtwijzer group - phase Rechtwijzer group - direction Control group - phase Control group - direction Pre-test First post-test

of being heard (by the researchers), but will have to be looked into further. Also, the conflicts in the Rechtwijzer group were significantly more escalated than in the control group. However, this level of escalation did decrease during the period between the two measuring moments. Respondents indicated a higher need for problem-focused empowering help than for social-emotional help.

The Rechtwijzer group and the control group did not differ on most important variables, which means we can compare these groups to test for effects of Rechtwijzer as we did for the short term effects in this report. Results did indicate, however, that the Rechtwijzer group might be dealing with more escalated conflicts than the control group.