ReviewQuality in health care : QHC2001
Variability in patient preferences for participating in medical decision making: implication for the use of decision support tools.
Review in Quality in health care : QHC, 2001. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 96 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
96 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Information for pregnant women about caesarean birth.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2004Pooled it
- To what extent should doctors communicate diagnostic uncertainty with their patients? An empirical ethics vignette study.Journal of medical ethics · 2025Trial
- Sexism Interacts with Patient-Physician Gender Concordance in Influencing Patient Control Preferences: Findings from a Vignette Experimental Design.Applied psychology. Health and well-being · 2020Trial
- Do we really allow patient decision-making in rotator cuff surgery? A prospective randomized study.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2019Trial
- Clinician and cancer patient views on patient participation in treatment decision-making: a quantitative and qualitative exploration.British journal of cancer · 2008Trial
- Influence of decision aids on patient preferences for anticoagulant therapy: a randomized trial.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2007Trial
- Medical communication and technology: a video-based process study of the use of decision aids in primary care consultations.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2007Trial
- Pneumonia care and the nursing home: a qualitative descriptive study of resident and family member perspectives.BMC geriatrics · 2006Trial
- Understanding of blood pressure by people with type 2 diabetes: a primary care focus group study.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2005Trial
- A factorial randomised controlled trial of decision analysis and an information video plus leaflet for newly diagnosed hypertensive patients.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2003Trial
- Influence of personalized therapeutic approach on quality of life and psychiatric comorbidity in patients with advanced colonic cancer requiring palliative care.Journal of medicine and lifeTrial
- Considering Preference-Based Patient Participation-Scientific and Clinical Outcome Measures With the Patient Preferences for Patient Participation Tool.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2026Article
- In Defence of Causing Patients to Worry: Ethical Issues in the Communication of Diagnostic Uncertainty.Bioethics · 2025Article
- Impact of Patients Decision Aids on Shared Decision-Making and Patient Satisfaction Prior to Pelvic Floor Surgery.BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology · 2025Article
- Evaluation of disease burden and symptom scores in patients with acute atrial fibrillation in the emergency department.World journal of emergency medicine · 2024Article
- Development and preliminary usability testing of an electronic conversation guide incorporating patient values and prognostic information in preparation for older people's decision-making near the end of life.Internet interventions · 2023Article
- Surgical Informed Consent: A Scoping Review of Physician-facing Decision Support Tools.Annals of surgery open : perspectives of surgical history, education, and clinical approaches · 2023Article
- A valued voice: A qualitative analysis of parental decision-making preferences in emergent paediatric surgery.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2023Article
- Comparison of treatment strategies and survival of early-onset gastric cancer: a population-based study.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Article
36 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
While there is an increasing emphasis on patient empowerment and shared decision making, evidence suggests that many patients do not wish to be involved in decisions about their own care. Previous research has found patient preferences for involvement in decision making to vary with age, socioeconomic status, illness experience, and the gravity of the decision. Furthermore, there is evidence that certain patients may experience disutility from being involved in decision making about the treatment of their health problems. We discuss the implications of these findings for the use of decision support tools and the difficulties of targeting their use towards those patients most likely to benefit. We argue that patients may be ill informed about what participation in decision making actually entails and unaware of the benefits they stand to gain by articulating their preferences to their clinician. Furthermore, clinicians are not good at accurately assessing patients' preferences, while patients may have unrealistic expectations about their clinician's ability to "know what is best" for them. Further research is required to understand variations in patients' preferences for information and involvement in decision making, and the factors that influence them.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.