Shared-decision making in pancreatic cancer: A scoping review

This review aimed to map the current landscape of literature on informed and shared decision-making (SDM) among patients with pancreatic cancer (PC).

PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and PsycINFO were queried for studies published before January 2024 that measured SDM or evaluated interventions targeted at SDM among patients with PC. Studies were excluded if they focused on clinician decision-making or the quality of education materials. The included studies were evaluated for interventions, assessment type, and key findings.

Our initial search identified 1194 studies, with 16 studies meeting our inclusion criteria: 4 cross-sectional, 1 mixed method, 8 qualitative, and 3 experimental. Common themes identified across studies included that there was a subset of patients that did not feel involved in their care, patients felt overwhelmed with information during the initial consultation, patients understood that there were limited treatment options, and patients did not always understand treatment decisions. The experimental studies each evaluated a different intervention (i.e., decision aid, clinician training, or combination) with mixed results.

There is limited data regarding SDM in PC, however, common themes found that PC patients commonly did not feel involved in their care. Future research should focus on role congruence in decision-making, patient empowerment, improving the delivery and comprehension of treatment information, and interventions to improve the SDM process.