Patient decision aids for hip and knee arthroplasty decision-making: a scoping review protocol

Total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA) are effective methods carried out widely in patients with end-stage hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA). Despite the trend towards shared decision-making in surgical decisions, patients often struggle to fully participate due to a lack of informational support. Patient decision aids (PtDAs) which provide evidence-based sources of health information can address this issue and facilitate shared decision-making. However, most existing studies and systematic reviews focus on the effects of PtDAs in the decision-making process for THA and TKA, with little attention given to a comprehensive scoping review of the range and scope of research in this area. Therefore, this review aims to assess the state of the literature on PtDAs for THA and TKA, describe the features of PtDAs for patients with OA who are considering primary elective THA or TKA and identify the questions in the implementation of decision-making.

This scoping review will be conducted according to the framework recommended by Arksey and O'Malley. The search will be limited to articles written in English and Chinese, while the publication date restriction is from 'inception' to 'February 2025'. Studies on PtDAs for patients with OA considering primary elective THA and TKA will be considered for inclusion. Five electronic databases will be searched (CINAHL, Pubmed, Embase, PsycINFO and Web of Science). Studies for inclusion will be selected independently by two review authors. Data will be extracted using a predefined data extraction form. Findings will be presented in tabular form. A narrative description of the evidence will complement the tabulated results.

This scoping review does not require ethical approval, as it will involve a secondary analysis of existing literature. Findings will be published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Open Science Framework (https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/9JCG3).