Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

The Decisional Conflict Scale (DCS) is an instrument to measure people's perceptions of their decisional needs, which has been developed in 1995. In 20 years it has been used in over 1000 studies including needs assessments, surveys, and evaluations of decision aids and other patient decision support interventions. The DCS is available for patients/surrogate decision makers in 4 different formats, 14 different languages, and 2 mode of administration. As well, there is a version for healthcare professionals. There have been many challenges and lessons learned in using the measure for different populations, languages, decision makers, and decision contexts. We aim to bring patients, health professionals, and researchers together with DCS Experts in a series of skill-building, lively, and informative conversations about the successes and challenges of using the DCS in both the research and clinical settings. We propose a workshop with an interactive, "world café" approach, intended for patients, health professionals, and researchers who have used, worked with, or are considering using the DCS. First, we will provide an overview of 20 years of DCS-use. Second we will have small group discussions facilitated by recognized DCS-experts. Overall, participants will benefit from the opportunity to learn from the experts and share and learn about the theoretical underpinings, methodological issues, and practical challenges that have been encountered in using the DCS. Participants will have the opportunity to: 1) Learn about the history of and the evidence behind the DCS, 2) Reflect on the different mode of analyses and interpretation of DCS results, 3) Share experiences with some of the most well-known DCS Experts, 4) Reflect on arising challenges around use of the DCS, and 5) Consider future use of the DCS for research or clinical practice.