• Joe Jabbour, Haryana M Dhillon, Heather L Shepherd, Puma Sundaresan, Chris Milross, and Jonathan R Clark.
• St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Central Clinical School, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia. Electronic address: joejabbour@icloud.com.
• Patient Educ Couns. 2018 Oct 1; 101 (10): 1736-1740.

ObjectiveIs there a relationship between decision-making preferences and psychological distress?MethodsPatients who had received treatment for head and neck cancer (HNC) at four institutions within NSW, Australia were invited to complete a single questionnaire.ResultsFive hundred and ninety-seven patients completed the questionnaire. The majority of patients (308, 54%) preferred shared decision making. Significant predictors of a preference towards active decision making were education level (OR 2.1 for tertiary, p < 0.001), primary cancer site (OR 1.9 for thyroid compared to salivary gland, p = 0.024) and gender (OR 1.4 for female, p = 0.028). Mean psychological distress score on Kessler 6 (K6) was 9 (Range: 0-28). Significant predictors of psychological distress were age (p < 0.001), gender (p < 0.001), primary site (p < 0.01), and decision preference (p < 0.01).ConclusionHNC patients who are either tertiary educated or female are more likely to prefer active involvement in decision-making. Psychological distress is more likely in patients actively involved in decision making, younger patients, and in females.Practice ImplicationsPatients experienced paternalistic decision-making, but most preferred active or a shared approached. Clinicians need to be aware of potential for psychological distress in active decision-makers and refer patients for psychosocial support.Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

28 keywords...

hide…