Determinants of practice for providing decision coaching to facilitate informed values-based decision-making: Proposal for a mixed-methods systematic review using a co-creation approach with knowledge users

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Birte Berger-Höger
• Subject Area: Public Health, Healthcare Research, Social and Occupational Medicine
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 547385612

Decision coaching is a non-directive approach to support patients to prepare for making health decisions. It is used to facilitate patients’ involvement in informed values-based decision-making and use of evidence-based health information. A recent systematic review revealed low evidence for its effectiveness with and without evidence-based information. However, there may be opportunities to improve the study and use of decision coaching in clinical practice by systematically investigating its determinants of practice. The aim of this proposal is to conduct a systematic review to identify and synthesize the determinants of practice for providing decision coaching to facilitate patient involvement in decision making from multiple perspectives that influence its use. We will conduct a mixed-methods systematic review guided by the Cochrane’ Handbook of Systematic Reviews and follow a co-production approach involving nursing practitioners and patient partners throughout the conduct of the systematic review, from the development of the research question to the dissemination of findings. We will include studies reporting determinants of practice influencing decision coaching with or without evidence-based patient information with adults making a health decision for themselves or a family member. Systematic literature searches will be conducted in Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane CENTRAL and PsycInfo via Ovid and CINAHL via EBSCO including quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods study designs. Additionally, experts in the field will be contacted. Two reviewers will independently screen and extract data. We will synthesize determinants using deductive and inductive qualitative content analysis and a coding frame developed specifically for this review based on a taxonomy of barriers and enablers of shared decision-making mapped onto the major domains of the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. We will assess the quality of included studies using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Ethical approval is not required as this systematic review involves only previously published literature. The results will be published in a peer-reviewed journal, presented at scientific conferences, and disseminated to relevant consumer groups. The proposal is registered in PROSPERO CRD42022338299.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Canada
• Cooperation Partner: Professorin Krystina Lewis, Ph.D.