A RECENTLY developed patient-decision aid for kidney disease received positive feedback from older adults with the condition and their caregivers, according to Fahad Saeed, University of Rochester Medical Center, New York, USA. The aid was designed to help patients understand their treatment options, including dialysis, conservative kidney management, and end-of-life planning.
A multidisciplinary team used design-based research principles and the theory of behavioural activation to create the initial version of the decision aid. It included educational material about kidney therapy options and a list of questions to facilitate discussions with healthcare professionals about treatment choices.
To modify the patient-decision aid, they utilised feedback from 35 patients receiving maintenance dialysis, along with input from caregivers. The average age of the patients was 80 years.
The aid was created based on multiple frameworks and studies, adapting the International Patient Decision Aid Standards (IPDAS) and the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT). It focused on presenting treatment information and outcomes, considering patient goals and preferences, and disclosing evidence sources and author qualifications.
Results showed that 100% of patients and caregivers had positive views about the educational component and would recommend it to others. The question prompt list was particularly helpful, with 80% of patients and 88% of caregivers expressing that it aided them in expressing concerns. Moreover, 75% of patients and 100% of caregivers found that the question prompts helped them formulate new questions they had not previously considered. Almost all respondents, 95% of patients and 100% of caregivers, stated they would recommend the question prompt list to others.
Overall, both patients and caregivers provided high acceptability ratings for the patient-decision aid. The feedback from multiple rounds of assessment proved valuable in improving the aid’s design and functionality, as noted by the researchers.
