Research Topic · Peer-Reviewed

Shared Decision Making and Ethics

Shared decision making is a collaborative process in which clinicians and patients, and where appropriate their families, work together to choose tests, treatments, or care plans by combining the best available clinical evidence with the patient's values, preferences, and circumstances. It rests on a two-way exchang…

Curated from this journal's research 📚 5 peer-reviewed articles cited Cited 6× across the literature 🔖 ISSN 2693-1176 🗓 Reviewed July 2026

Overview

Shared decision making is a collaborative process in which clinicians and patients, and where appropriate their families, work together to choose tests, treatments, or care plans by combining the best available clinical evidence with the patient's values, preferences, and circumstances. It rests on a two-way exchange of information: the clinician communicates the options, benefits, harms, and uncertainties, while the patient conveys what matters most to them, so that the resulting decision is both medically sound and personally meaningful. Decision aids, risk communication, and structured deliberation are common supports for this process. Shared decision making is closely bound to medical ethics, expressing the principle of respect for patient autonomy alongside beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice. It operationalises informed consent as an ongoing dialogue rather than a single signature, and it helps reconcile situations in which evidence is equivocal or in which patients weigh outcomes differently from clinicians. Ethical practice also requires attention to capacity, vulnerability, equitable access to information, and the avoidance of coercion or undue influence, particularly where power imbalances or cultural and social factors affect how freely patients can participate. By aligning care with individual goals while maintaining professional standards, shared decision making supports patient-centred care, improves the legitimacy of difficult choices, and strengthens trust within the clinical relationship.

Research published in this journal

5 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.

How this research is being cited

The 5 articles above have been cited 6 times in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Jun 2026.

A sample of recent works citing this journal's research on Shared Decision Making and Ethics, linking to each citing work.

Editorial oversight

Curated from peer-reviewed research published in International Journal of Global Health (ISSN 2693-1176).

Journal editorial board
Andrew Hall · United Kingdom Richard Bright · Australia Zhiqiang Feng · United Kingdom

This page summarises published research for orientation; it is not medical or professional advice.