Shared decision making and behavioral impairment: a national study among children with special health care needs

CSHCN aged 5-17？years in the 2002-2006 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey were followed for 2？years. The validated Columbia Impairment Scale measured impairment. SDM was measured with 7 items addressing the 4 components of SDM. The main exposures were (1) the mean level of SDM across the 2 study years and (2) the change in SDM over the 2？years. Using linear regression, we measured the association of SDM and behavioral impairment.Among 2,454 subjects representing 10.2 million CSHCN, SDM increased among 37% of the population, decreased among 36% and remained unchanged among 27%. For CSHCN impaired at baseline, the change in SDM was significant with each 1-point increase in SDM over time associated with a 2-point decrease in impairment (95% CI: 0.5, 3.4), whereas the mean level of SDM was not associated with impairment. In contrast, among those below the impairment threshold, the mean level of SDM was significant with each one point increase in the mean level of SDM associated with a 1.1-point decrease in impairment (0.4, 1.7), but the change was not associated with impairment.Although the change in SDM may be more important for children with behavioral impairment and the mean level over time for those below the impairment threshold, results suggest that both the change in SDM and the mean level may impact behavioral health for CSHCN.Shared decision making (SDM) is defined as the active participation of both clinicians and families in treatment decisions, the exchange of information, discussion of preferences, and a joint determination of the treatment plan [1]. Given benefits of SDM in increasing families’ knowledge, decreasing uncertainty, and pairing families with treatments they find most acceptable [2], the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recently stressed the importance of research assessing the comparative effectiveness of SDM in pediatrics [3] and the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act supported the implementation of SDM in clinical settings [4]. Despite