The impact of patient narratives on medical students' perceptions of shared decision making: A randomized controlled trial.

Successful shared decision making (SDM) in clinical practice requires that future clinicians learn to appreciate the value of patient participation as early as they can in their medical training. Narratives, such as patient testimonials, have been successfully used to support patients' decision-making process. Previous research suggests that narratives may also be used for increasing clinicians' empathy and responsiveness in medical consultations. However, so far, no studies have investigated the benefits of narratives for conveying the relevance of SDM to medical students. In this randomized controlled experiment, N = 167 medical students were put into a scenario where they prepared for medical consultation with a patient having Parkinson disease. After receiving general information, participants read either a narrative testimonial of a Parkinson patient or a fact-based information text. We measured their perceptions of SDM, their control preferences (i.e., their priorities as to who should make the decision), and the time they intended to spend for the consultation. Participants in the narrative patient testimonial condition referred more strongly to the patient as the one who should make decisions than participants who read the information text. Participants who read the patient narrative also considered SDM in situations with several equivalent treatment options to be more important than participants in the information text condition. There were no group differences regarding their control preferences. Participants who read the patient testimonial indicated that they would schedule more time for the consultation. These findings show that narratives can potentially be useful for imparting the relevance of SDM and patient-centered values to medical students. We discuss possible causes of this effect and implications for training and future research. Trial registration: The study was pre-registered on the pre-registration platform AsPredicted (aspredicted.org) before data collection began (registration number: #29,342). Date of registration: 17 October 2019.

Decision aids to prepare patients for shared decision making: Two randomized controlled experiments on the impact of awareness of preference-sensitivity and personal motives.

OBJECTIVE: To participate in shared decision making (SDM), patients need to understand their options and develop trust in their own decision-making abilities. Two experiments investigated the potential of decision aids (DAs) in preparing patients for SDM by raising awareness of preference-sensitivity (Study 1) and showing possible personal motives for decision making (Study 2) in addition to providing information about the treatment options. METHODS: Participants (Study 1: N = 117; Study 2: N = 217) were put into two scenarios (Study 1: cruciate ligament rupture; Study 2: contraception), watched a consultation video and were randomized into one of three groups where they received additional information in the form of (a) narrative patient testimonials; (b) non-narrative decision strategies; and (c) an unrelated text (control group). RESULTS: Participants who viewed the patient testimonials or decision strategies felt better prepared for a decision (Study 1: P < .001, ηP2  = 0.43; Study 2: P < .001, ηP2  = 0.57) and evaluated the decision-making process more positively (Study 2: P < .001, ηP2  = 0.13) than participants in the control condition. Decision certainty (Study 1: P < .001, ηP2  = 0.05) and satisfaction (Study 1: P < .001, ηP2  = 0.11; Study 2: P = .003, d = 0.29) were higher across all conditions after watching the consultation video, and certainty and satisfaction were lower in the control condition (Study 2: P < .001, ηP2  = 0.05). DISCUSSION: Decision aids that explain preference-sensitivity and personal motives can be beneficial for improving people's feelings of being prepared and their perception of the decision-making process. To reach decision certainty and satisfaction, being well informed of one's options is particularly relevant. We discuss the implications of our findings for future research and the design of DAs.