Influences of participation in treatment decisions on health experience and behavior

Project description

The PaTH project investigates how different degrees of participation in health-related decisions influence the experience and behavior of patients. The aim is to understand which forms of involvement can pave the way for effective advice and treatment - and how this process can be designed in a patient-centered way.

The importance of participatory decision-making processes is not only evident in scientific discourse, but also in current health policy and ethical developments: With the Patients' Rights Act of 2013, informed decision-making was enshrined as legally protected in Germany. In addition, in 2017, the Geneva Medical Profession was supplemented by the obligation to actively involve patients in decisions and to respect their autonomy - a central principle of medical ethics practice.

Against this background, PaTH is conducting three empirical studies to investigate how participatory decision-making processes can be designed in health advice - for example on topics such as insomnia or dementia prevention. In the studies, different forms of participation are used in order to understand their effect on health experience and behavior.