Physicians' Perspectives Toward Shared Decision Making in Developing Countries

Aims: To evaluate Iranian physicians’ perspectives on shared decision making by validating and translating the physician version of a shared decision making questionnaire (SDM-Q-DOC).
Place and Duration: Iranian Evidence-Based Medicine Center of Excellence, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran, from June 2012 to July 2013.
Methods: The physician version of a shared decision making questionnaire (SDM-Q-DOC) was translated and validated through a pilot study among urologists in one of the hospitals of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. A validated questionnaire was handed out among Iranian physicians in three main hospitals of Urmia. The results were analyzed using factorial analysis SPSS 16 software. To assess reliability, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was calculated. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to assess test-retest value.
Results: The Persian version of the questionnaire showed an acceptable level of reliability (Cronbach alpha=0.901). In the implementation phase, Iranian physicians were generally in favor of the SDM process ( mean score=74.4%) but their perspective on different phases of SDM were different, with 93% answering questions evaluating physicians’ clinical explanations to their patients and only 68% agreeing with questions evaluating physicians’ attitudes regarding involving patients in the last treatment option.
Conclusion: The physician version of SDM-Q-DOC is a valid and reliable questionnaire assessing physicians’ attitudes toward the SDM process. In this study, Iranian physicians showed a positive view to SDM.