Dear Lauren,

Welcome to the Shared Decision Making (SDM) program newsletter. In this quarterly newsletter you will find opportunities to collaborate in shared decision making research, access to a DA implementation toolkit, and review recent publications with the SDM Process Scale.

We recently launched a DA Implementation Toolkit equipped with tips, strategies, and resources to help clinical and administrative champions engage with leadership and implement patient decision aids into routine practice. The toolkit includes six core elements that are crucial for successful implementation. Please let us know what you think about the resources.

From parents making decisions for their kids to older adults with cognitive impairment, we have been advancing measurement of SDM to new areas. Here are highlights from some recent publications with the shared decision making process scale :

Measuring shared decision-making in younger and older adults with depression

Dr. Brodney and colleagues examined how the SDM Process scale performed in older and younger patients who made a decision about using depression medication in the past year, and they compared alternative wording of two items in the scale. Overall, the scale demonstrated validity and retest reliability and younger patients reported more SDM for depression treatment decisions than older respondents. Wording variation did not impact SDM Process scale scores. 

Evaluation of the shared decision-making process scale in cancer screening and medication decisions

Ms. Vo and colleagues evaluated the reliability and validity of the shared decision making process scale for adults facing cancer screening and medication decisions. The scale demonstrated good retest reliability, and higher scores were associated with less decisional conflict and less regret. The study further extended the evidence from prior work in surgical decisions.  

Shared decision making for elective surgical procedures in older adults with and without cognitive insufficiencies

Dr. Valentine and colleagues examined the surgical decision-making processes of older adults with and without cognitive insufficiencies and evaluated the psychometric properties of the SDM Process scale. Reported SDM, decisional conflict, and decision regret did not differ significantly for patients with and without cognitive insufficiencies and the scale was an acceptable, reliable, and valid measure of SDM in patients both with and without cognitive insufficiencies.

Pediatric caregiver version of the shared decision making process scale: Validity and reliability for ADHD treatment decisions

Dr. Valentine and colleagues adapted the SDM Process Scale for caregivers of children with ADHD making treatment decisions. The scale demonstrated acceptability, validity and reliability and scores indicate pediatricians generally involve caregivers in decision making about ADHD medication.