Decision aids

See also: Decision support system

Decision aids are interventions or tools designed to facilitate shared decision making and patient participation in health care decisions.

Decision support interventions help people think about choices they face; they describe where and why choice exists; and they provide information about options, including, where reasonable, the option of taking no action.[1] These interventions aim to help people to deliberate, independently or in collaboration with others, about options by considering relevant attributes to help them forecast how they might feel about short, intermediate, and long-term outcomes which have relevant consequences.[1] Decision aids can be of any type but are most commonly pamphlets, videos, or web-based tools.[2] Decision aids support the process of constructing preferences and eventual decision making, appropriate to their individual situation.[1]

Decision aids are distinct from traditional educational materials as they focus on presenting various alternatives, detailing the associated risks and benefits, including explicit probabilities, and tailoring information to individual patients[3] To support shared decision-making, evidence-based patient decision aids (ptDAs) have been created.[4]

  1. ^ a b c Elwyn G, Frosch D, Volandes A, Edwards A, Montori V (2009). "Investing in deliberation: defining and developing decision support interventions for people facing difficult health decisions". White Paper Series. Gaithersberg, Maryland, USA: John M Eisenberg Center for Clinical Decisions and Communication. Archived from the original on 2016-09-23. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. ^ Stacey D, Lewis KB, Smith M, Carley M, Volk R, Douglas EE, Pacheco-Brousseau L, Finderup J, Gunderson J, Barry MJ, Bennett CL, Bravo P, Steffensen K, Gogovor A, Graham ID (2024-01-29). "Decision aids for people facing health treatment or screening decisions". The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 1 (1): CD001431. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD001431.pub6. ISSN 1469-493X. PMC 10823577. PMID 38284415.
  3. ^ O'Connor AM, Tugwell P, Wells GA, Elmslie T, Jolly E, Hollingworth G, Mcpherson R, Drake E, Hopman W, Mackenzie T (August 1998). "Randomized Trial of a Portable, Self-administered Decision Aid for Postmenopausal Women Considering Long-term Preventive Hormone Therapy". Medical Decision Making. 18 (3): 295–303. doi:10.1177/0272989x9801800307. ISSN 0272-989X.
  4. ^ Stacey D, Légaré F, Lewis K, Barry MJ, Bennett CL, Eden KB, Holmes-Rovner M, Llewellyn-Thomas H, Lyddiatt A, Thomson R, Trevena L (2017-04-12). "Decision aids for people facing health treatment or screening decisions". Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2017 (4). doi:10.1002/14651858.cd001431.pub5. ISSN 1465-1858. PMC 6478132.