Assessment of Shared Decision Making in Optometry

Background: The perspective of both the patient and the optometrist have an enormous role to play during a clinical encounter. Nevertheless, few studies have been carried out to evaluate shared decision making in optometric practices. This study aims to evaluate shared decision making in optometry from the perspective of both the patient and the optometrist using the 9-item shared decision-making questionnaire (SDM-Q-9 and SDM-Q-Optometrist). Material and methods: A cross-sectional, survey study was undertaken with participants recruited from Specsavers Norway. Optometrists working in Specsavers stores, and their patients were invited to take part in the study. In all, 12 optometrists from five stores and one to five of their patients volunteered to participate. Data was collected September to October 2020, and all the participants completed either the SDM-Q-9 or the SDM-Q-Optometrist. The Norwegian Centre for Research Data (NSD) approved the study. The statistical analysis was done in Excel/SPSS version 26 using frequency and summation statistics, group difference was analysed using Mann-Whitney U test. A p-value of