Abstract
Objectives: Several measures to prevent cardiovascular diseases are well known. Although personal preferences are of crucial importance while evaluating the course of action best to be taken, complex decision aids for cardio-vascular prevention are rarely developed and validated.
Methods: A transactional decision aid (named ARRIBA-Herz) for the counseling situation in regard to cardiovascular preventive measures was therefore developed. To include the most useful instruments in the patient questionnaire of our cluster randomized trial to evaluate the decision aid, we piloted the questionnaire with 155 patients after being counseled in regard to prevention of cardiovascular diseases and other decisions, and 56 patients after a consultation in which the decision aid was applied.
Results: The Man Son Hing scale, developed in Canada and the US, and the PEF-FB scale, currently being validated in Germany were the most useful instruments to evaluate shared decision making in our study.
Conclusion: The piloting of ARRIBA-Herz gives some evidence, that its implementation leads to higher patient satisfaction with the decision making process and the decision in regard to cardiovascular preventive measures. This conclusion however has to be drawn very carefully, since the comparison group was heterogeneous and was recruited shortly before the intervention group. Some results of the piloting might contribute to further developing the theoretical framework of the shared decision making process.
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