Personalised Multi-Criterial Online Decision Support for Siblings Considering Stem Cell Donation: An Interactive Aid

Area of Science:

• Health Communication
• Decision Science
• Bioethics

Background:

• Effective healthcare decision-making requires integrating individual values with available information.
• Nurses and healthcare professionals need tools to facilitate patient-centered discussions.
• Complex medical decisions, such as stem cell donation, involve significant physical and psychosocial factors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the development of an interactive, multi-criteria decision aid for personalized use in clinical conversations.
• To illustrate how such aids can support individuals facing complex health choices, using a stem cell donation scenario.
• To enhance health decision literacy among patients and healthcare providers through interactive support.

Main Methods:

• A case study involving four siblings considering stem cell donation was adapted into a storyline.
• An interactive, multi-criteria decision aid was developed in a conversational format.
• The decision aid was made accessible online for interactive engagement.

Main Results:

• The interactive aid successfully translated complex medical information into a personalized decision support tool.
• The sibling case study highlighted the communication complexities and decision cascade in donation scenarios.
• Online interaction provided each sibling with a personalized opinion and improved decision-making capacity.

Conclusions:

• Interactive, person-centered decision support tools can be effectively integrated into clinical conversations.
• Such aids enhance individual understanding of medical information and personal values, improving decision quality.
• Developing shared templates for informational and ethical aspects supports informed choices in healthcare.