Questioning context: a set of interdisciplinary questions for investigating contextual factors affecting health decision making

Abstract

Objective To combine insights from multiple disciplines into a set of questions that can be used to investigate contextual factors affecting health decision making.Background Decision-making processes and outcomes may be shaped by a range of non-medical or ÔcontextualÕ factors particular to an individual including social, economic, political, geographical and institutional conditions. Research concerning contextual factors occurs across many disciplines and theoretical domains, but few conceptual tools have attempted to integrate and translate this wideranging research for health decision-making purposes.

Shared decision making in designing new healthcare environments—time to begin improving quality

“…The design of healthcare architecture is thus an important quality factor in modern healthcare [ 7 ] and a healthcare organization must commit and integrate healthcare architecture into its strategic plans to improve the quality of care it offers [ 8 , 9 ]. Much of the enormous investment into new healthcare environments (HCEs) is neither based on the systematic acquisition of knowledge from practice or research nor seriously scrutinized by research-based follow-up procedures [ 10 ].…”

Cardiac rehabilitation and the therapeutic environment: the importance of physical, social, and symbolic safety for programme participation among women

“…In the health geography literature, a therapeutic landscape is conceptualized as not only a physical space where individuals seek healing, but an environment created through human interaction that fosters a sense of belonging and a sense of place (Pred 1983, Gesler 1992, Charise et al. 2011).…”

The potential of service design for improving the implementation of shared decision-making

“…This is somewhat puzzling because a large number of studies have reported on the effect of aspects of the interior of consultation rooms (or even of adjacent waiting areas) on patient stress and patient disclosure (Okken, van Rompay, and Pruyn 2013;Huisman et al 2012;Ajiboye et al 2015;Miwa 2006;Liu et al 2014;Dahlgaard et al 2008;Sobral, Rosenbaum, and Figueiredo-Braga 2015;Charise et al 2011;Baskaya 2004;Noordman et al 2010;Frankel et al 2005;Almquist et al 2009). For example, Okken et al (2013) found that brightness of the consultation room might influence the communication between the healthcare professional and patient.…”