Shared decision-making among non-physician healthcare professionals: Enhancing patient involvement in women's reproductive health in community healthcare settings

Objective: Shared decision-making (SDM) is an important approach to patient-centered care in women's reproductive healthcare. This study explored SDM experiences and perceptions among non-physician healthcare professionals. Methods: We completed 20 key-informant interviews with non-physician healthcare professionals (i.e., NP, RN, CNM, doula, pharmacist, chiropractor) living in Indiana (September 2019-May 2020) who provided community-based women's reproductive healthcare. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using an expanded grounded theory framework. Constant comparative analysis identified emergent themes. Results: Professionals noted community-based healthcare required contextualized decision-making approaches. Results identified listening, decisional ownership, and engagement strategies that enhanced SDM involvement. Findings suggested outcome-oriented SDM concepts, including decisional ownership and investigative listening to enhance SDM. Providers redefined ‘challenging’ patients as engaged in their healthcare and discussed ways SDM improved healthcare experience beyond one visit. Conclusion: Findings offered insight into actionable and practical strategies for enhancing SDM in community-based women's reproductive healthcare. The findings offer strategies to improve SDM by addressing barriers and facilitators among professionals. This extends SDM beyond the patient-physician dyad and supports broader application of SDM. Practice implications: Incorporating professionals’ experiences into SDM concepts can enhance SDM in community-based women's healthcare practice, offering opportunities to support a culture of SDM across settings.