Development and psychometric properties of the Shared Decision Making Questionnaire--physician version (SDM-Q-Doc)

To develop and psychometrically test a brief instrument for assessing the physician's perspective of the shared decision-making process in clinical encounters.

We adapted the 9-item Shared Decision Making Questionnaire (SDM-Q-9) for patients to generate a new version for physicians (SDM-Q-Doc). The physician version was tested in clinical encounters between 29 physicians and 324 patients in German outpatient care contexts. Analyses of the extent to which the instrument was accepted, the reliability of the instrument, and the factorial structure of the scale were performed.

Physicians showed a high level of acceptance toward the SDM-Q-Doc. Item discrimination parameters were above .4 for all but one item. An analysis of internal consistency yielded a Cronbach's α of .88. Factor analysis confirmed a one-dimensional structure.

The results of this study suggest that the SDM-Q-Doc is a well-accepted and reliable instrument for assessing the physician's perspective during SDM processes in clinical encounters. To our knowledge, the SDM-Q-Doc is the first psychometrically tested scale available for assessing the physician's perspective.

The SDM-Q-Doc can be used in studies that analyze the effectiveness of the implementation of SDM and as a quality indicator in quality assurance programs and health service assessments.