Decision Coaching

A decision coach is a trained health care provider who is non-directive and provides support that aims to develop patients'/persons' skills in:

Coaching is provided face-to-face, using the telephone, or by virtual meeting. It can be used alone or in combination with a patient decision aid or the Ottawa Personal Decision Guide. Training involves learning about decision coaching as an intervention to prepare patients to discuss options with their practitioner and may include the use of decision support tools.

To enhance the quality of decision coaching, there are several resources:

Reviews of several studies showed that when decision coaching was used alone or with a patient decision aid, patients were more knowledgeable and there were no harms. The effect on other outcomes was mixed with some studies showing improvement and other studies showing no difference. Examples of healthcare professionals who have provided decision coaching are nurses, pharmacists, geneticists, health educators, psychologists, and social workers.

References

Last modified: 2022-10-20.