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Table 1 Theoretical Rationale that Coaching and Guidance can Improve Decision Quality

From: Coaching and guidance with patient decision aids: A review of theoretical and empirical evidence

By…

Coaching / Guidance can…

Increasing critical reflection, anticipating and avoiding common pitfalls (e.g., anchoring, misconceptions, etc.) that can undermine effective decision making;

Taking someone through the steps of decision making;

Helping patients become more informed by providing information, tailoring information, brainstorming and answering questions, stimulating patients to ask questions, and/or verifying understanding;

Clarifying patients’ values by facilitating reflection, completing values clarification exercises, and/or sharing others’ experiences;

and/or

Building self-efficacy in decision making

Improve patients’ deliberation skills.

Helping patients prepare questions and identify concerns;

Teaching skills for raising difficult subjects;

Facilitating patients’ communicative capacity in the process of decision making; and/or

Providing a worksheet or list of questions to share with the practitioner

Enhance patients’ skills in communicating with their practitioner(s).

Helping patients to anticipate and overcome barriers to implementing the desired option

Improve follow-through on the chosen option.

Helping patients to improve their ability to use coping skills;

and/or

Helping patients to enhance their problem-solving skills

Reduce patients’ emotional distress.