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Units

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Partner

Brief description/objective

Decision making in medicine is a very complex process and of central importance to the patient and physician in oncology. Our previous work (based at KSSG) has demonstrated a wide variability in expert decision making in oncology (including the use of decision criteria and treatments recommended). Previous work of our partners (HSG) has investigated how various factors influence our decisions (emotions, cognitive biases, etc.). Our goal is to apply methods and knowledge surrounding decision making in behavioral sciences to the oncological context. For this we aim to investigate decision making of physicians in uro-genital oncology (focusing on the question of active surveillance in seminoma and prostate cancer). We first conduct open interviews with uro-oncology physicians regarding their decision-making. Based on this information semi-structured interview and mock patient files will be created to investigate the influence of various factors on the decision making process for active surveillance in uro-genital oncology. Finally, we will test the relative importance of these factors as decision criteria for decisions of oncologists in an experimental setting (conjoint analysis). The goal is to understand the importance of different criteria that influence decision making, as basis to improve shared decision-making involving the patient.