Different patients, different preferences: a multicenter assessment of patients' personality traits and anxiety in shared decision making
Creators: name: Köther, Anja K.
name: Büdenbender, Björn
name: Grüne, Britta
name: Holbach, Sonja
name: Huber, Johannes
name: Von Landenberg, Nicolas
name: Lenk, Julia
name: Martini, Thomas
name: Michel, Maurice S.
name: Kriegmair, Maximilian C.
name: Alpers, Georg W.
Publisher: name: Universität Ulm
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: ethical considerations
subject: psychosocial studies
subject: urological oncology
subject: DDC 150 / Psychology
subject: DDC 610 / Medicine &amp; health
subject: Urinary bladder neoplasms; Psychology
subject: Behavioral sciences
subject: Urologische Onkologie
subject: Blasenkrebs
subject: Sozialpsychologie

description: Abstract Objective Patient‐centered care and shared decision making (SDM) are generally recognized as the gold standard for medical consultations, especially for preference‐sensitive decisions. However, little is known about psychological patient characteristics that influence patient‐reported preferences. We set out to explore the role of personality and anxiety for a preference‐sensitive decision in bladder cancer patients (choice of urinary diversion, UD) and to determine if anxiety predicts patients' participation preferences. Methods We recruited a sample of bladder cancer patients (N = 180, primarily male, retired) who awaited a medical consultation on radical cystectomy and their choice of UD. We asked patients to fill in a set of self‐report questionnaires before this consultation, including measures of treatment preference, personality (BFI‐10), anxiety (STAI), and participation preference (API and API‐Uro), as well as sociodemographic characteristics. Results Most patients (79%) indicated a clear preference for one of the treatment options (44% continent UD, 34% incontinent UD). Patients who reported more conscientiousness were more likely to prefer more complex methods (continent UD). The majority (62%) preferred to delegate decision making to healthcare professionals. A substantial number of patients reported elevated anxiety (32%), and more anxiety was predictive of higher participation preference, specifically for uro‐oncological decisions (β = 0.207, p &lt; 0.01). Conclusions Our findings provide insight into the role of psychological patient characteristics for SDM. Aspects of personality such as conscientiousness influence treatment preferences. Anxiety contributes to patients' motivation to be involved in pertinent decisions. Thus, personality and negative affect should be considered to improve SDM.
description: We set out to explore the role of personality and anxiety for a preference‐sensitive decision in a multicenter assessment of bladder cancer patients (N = 180; choice of urinary diversion, UD). Most patients indicated a clear preference for one of the treatment options (44% continent UD, 34% incontinent UD) and patients who reported more conscientiousness were more likely to prefer more complex treatment methods (continent UD). Moreover, anxiety was predictive of higher participation preference, specifically for uro‐oncological decisions. image