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Updated: Jun 4, 2026
14:32
Using Visual and Narrative Methods to Achieve Fair Process in Clinical Care
Published on: February 16, 2011
Turning signals into meaning--'shared decision making' meets communication theory
Jürgen Kasper1, France Légaré, Fülöp Scheibler
1Institute of Neuroimmunology and Clinical MS-Research, University Medical Center, Hamburg, Germany. k@sper.info
Summary
Shared decision making (SDM) requires a communication-centric approach, viewing information exchange as social sense construction. This reframes SDM research and practice towards interpersonal dynamics.
Area of Science:
- Health Communication
- Social Systems Theory
- Epistemology
Background:
- Shared decision making (SDM) faces challenges in clinical practice and research.
- Current SDM research often focuses on individual interactions, neglecting the patient-physician dyad.
Purpose of the Study:
- To re-evaluate the core concept of information exchange in SDM.
- To encourage a shift towards a more dynamic, systems-based understanding of SDM.
- To propose updated analytical methods for SDM research and practice.
Main Methods:
- Epistemological analysis of "information" within the context of SDM.
- Operationalization of information exchange using social systems theory.
- Advocacy for dyadic analytical methods from the interpersonal paradigm.
Main Results:
- Information exchange in SDM is fundamentally a process of social sense construction.
- Communication itself, not just its content, constitutes the core of information exchange.
- Existing interpersonal analytical methods are suitable for studying SDM.
Conclusions:
- An updated conceptualization of information is crucial for advancing SDM.
- SDM evaluation methods and goal-setting should incorporate a process-oriented, dyadic perspective.
- Clinical practice of SDM can benefit from focusing on the communicative act.
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