The Potential for Sensor-Based Measurement to Examine Shared Decision Making in Face-to-Face Health Care Encounters

Shared decision making (SDM) has been gaining an increasing appeal in providing patient-centered health care, which focuses on patients' needs and values and their active role in making health-related decisions. However, SDM remains difficult to measure because different conceptual definitions have been used in the literature, resulting in different operational definitions and measurement approaches. In addition, traditional measurement approaches, such as self-reports, can fail to capture the dynamic nature of the SDM process. In this paper, we propose using sensor-based measurement (i.e., using sensors to collect objective and automated data in real time) to examine the SDM process to overcome the measurement challenges inherent in more traditional measurement approaches. We also call for further discussion on the role and feasibility of using sensors in studying SDM. Using a few sensors as an example, we discuss benefits and challenges of sensor-based measurement in this area.