Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To find out the views of the patient on their participation in decision making (DM) when visiting their family physician. DESIGN: A cross-sectional, qualitative and quantitative study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Patients attending their family doctors in diverse geographical Health Centres. MEASUREMENTS: Personal interviewing using different kinds of questions (close-ended, close-ended with options and open-ended questions). RESULTS: Patients participation: 658 (52 ± 17.4 years, 62% females, consulting with 97 doctors (from urban centres: 36 (458); rural centres: 22 (200). Most patients (94%; 620) declared to be satisfied with DM and up to 41% (266) thought that DM should be taken only by the doctor. Nevertheless, after the consultation 60% of patients (360) confirmed that they would have liked the physician to have asked them for their opinion, but the doctor did not encourage them to do this. Furthermore, patients considered information, discussion about options, ways to make decisions, medical advice, active listening and empathy as key aspects to encourage them to participate. CONCLUSIONS: After a medical consultation, most patients wanted to give their opinion about the proposals of treatment. Nevertheless, they felt that their doctors offered them these opportunities on very few occasions. Some types of questions are better than others in detecting of these kinds of needs, and are more useful to design strategies for involving patients in the DM process.