Impact of a Decision Aid Regarding Natural Health Products for Menopausal Symptoms

Overview

The aim of this study is to assess the impact of a patient decision aid regarding natural health products for menopausal symptoms on decisional conflict, knowledge and persistence for an option of women aged 45-64 years old. We are expecting a decrease in decisional conflict and an improvement on knowledge level. We are also expecting an intention to use the decision aid in the future and to discuss with the physician or pharmacist about the use, or the intention to use natural health products.

Health decision making is a process known to be difficult, specially in uncertainty context. Because of a lack of evidence, natural health products field remains uncertain. Decision aids (or decision support interventions) have been elaborated in the past for several health decisions and previous studies showed that they seem to be effective on reducing decisional conflict. Following a needs assessment with 40 women and 15 key informants, we developed a decision aid tool specific to the context of natural health products for menopause. In this study, we will assess its impact on decisional conflict, knowledge, persistence for an option, intention to use for a future decision in the same area, and intention to disclose use of natural health products to health professionals. Comparison: An existing general information brochure on menopause compared to a decision aid tool that we developed based on the Ottawa Decision Support Framework.

Conditions