Women’s decision-making about undergoing surgery in early-stage breast cancer: the relationships among preferred roles, experienced involvement, and decisional conflict

Authors: Nasim Aminaie, Reza Negarandeh^*

ABSTRACT

 Aims: This study aimed at evaluating women’s decision-making about undergoing surgery in early-stage breast cancer based on the relationships among their preferred roles, experienced involvement, and decisional conflict.

Design: This cross-sectional descriptive-correlational study was conducted in 2017-2018 on 328 women with early-stage breast cancer who were hospitalized in the surgical wards of Imam Khomeini hospital, Tehran, Iran.

Methods: Participants were conveniently recruited and asked to fill out a demographic questionnaire, the Control Preference Scale, the 9-item Shared Decision Making Questionnaire, and the Decisional Conflict Scale.

Results: Most participants (90.9%) preferred to have passive roles in treatment decision-making. From their own perspectives, 78.4% of them were moderately involved, 13.7% were passively involved, and 7.9% were actively involved in decision-making. The mean score of decisional conflict was 28.3±8.10. The highest and the lowest levels of decisional conflict were related to uncertainty and values clarity, respectively. Although preferred roles had no significant relationship with experienced involvement, it had significant relationship with decisional conflict. Moreover, there was a significant inverse correlation between experienced involvement and decisional conflict.

Conclusion: Most Iranian women with early-stage breast cancer prefer not to get actively involved in treatment decision-making and hence, completely delegate it to their physicians. Their active involvement in decision-making can reduce their decisional conflict. Therefore, strategies are needed to encourage their active involvement in treatment decision-making and improve the outcomes of their treatment decisions.

Key words: Breast cancer, Decision-making, Decisional conflict, Involvement