A Cross Sectional Assessment of Shared Decision among Patients Visiting Public Healthcare Institute of Quetta City, Pakistan

Background: Shared decision making, occasionally called “participatory governance” is the approach in healthcare to ensure that patients have the right to participate effectively in the decision making (DM) process. Aim: The aim of this research was to discuss the external aspect of SDM and put forward applicable solutions to ensure SDM at both patient and physician levels. Methods: A standardized validated nine-item Shared Decision Making Questionnaire (patient version SDM-Q-9) was employed. SPSS version 25 used to perform data analysis. Multiple tests such as Mann Whitney U and Johnkheere-Terpstra were used. Kendall’s Tau was used for interpretation of the significant relationship among all items of SDM-Q9 and education. Results: A total of 465 chronically ill patients took part, where majority (63.4%) of patients was above the age of 47. The cohort was dominated by females (67.5%). 92% of the sample was married. Majority (86.9%) of the patient reported not involved in any decision. During analysis considerable association was reported between gender and all items of SDM-Q9, where more men were involved in SDM when compared with women. Our findings did produce significant association between education and SDM-Q9, which reveals that increase in education, can improve the SDM. Conclusion: Shared decision making shouldn’t be limited to chronic or emergency in practice. Specific and tailored shared medical decision making programs must be developed for low literacy population implementation. SDM is to be supported at policy and operation levels.