title: A Review of Shared Decision-Making and Patient Decision Aids in Radiation Oncology.
abstract: Cancer treatment decisions are complex and may be challenging for patients, as multiple treatment options can often be reasonably considered. As a result, decisional support tools have been developed to assist patients in the decision-making process. A commonly used intervention to facilitate shared decision-making is a decision aid, which provides evidence-based outcomes information and guides patients towards choosing the treatment option that best aligns with their preferences and values. To ensure high quality, systematic frameworks and standards have been proposed for the development of an optimal aid for decision making. Studies have examined the impact of these tools on facilitating treatment decisions and improving decision-related outcomes. In radiation oncology, randomized controlled trials have demonstrated that decision aids have the potential to improve patient outcomes, including increased knowledge about treatment options and decreased decisional conflict with decision-making. This article provides an overview of the shared-decision making process and summarizes the development, validation, and implementation of decision aids as patient educational tools in radiation oncology. Finally, this article reviews the findings from decision aid studies in radiation oncology and offers various strategies to effectively implement shared decision-making into clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Civic Center Blvd, TRC 2 West, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA. Kristina.Woodhouse@uphs.upenn.edu.
authors.forename: Kristina Demas
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Woodhouse
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Civic Center Blvd, TRC 2 West, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Katie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tremont
authors.affiliation: Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Division, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Anil
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vachani
authors.affiliation: Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Marilyn M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Schapira
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Civic Center Blvd, TRC 2 West, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Neha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Vapiwala
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Civic Center Blvd, TRC 2 West, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Charles B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Simone
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Civic Center Blvd, TRC 2 West, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Abigail T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Berman
mesh_terms: D003657:Decision Making; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D006801:Humans; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000523:psychology; D018787:Radiation Oncology / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Patient decision aids; Radiation oncology; Shared decision-making