Decision-Making Preferences among Advanced Cancer Patients in a Palliative Setting in Jordan

Understanding patients’ decision-making preferences is crucial for enhancing patients’ outcomes. The current study aims to identify Jordanian advanced cancer patients’ preferred decision-making and to explore the associated variables of the passive decision-making preference. We used a cross-sectional survey design. Patients with advanced cancer referred to the palliative care clinic at a tertiary cancer center were recruited. We measured patients’ decision-making preferences using the Control Preference Scale. Patients’ satisfaction with decision-making was assessed with the Satisfaction with Decision Scale. Cohen’s kappa statistic was used to assess the agreement between decision-control preferences and actual decision-making, and the bivariate analysis with 95% CI and the univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to examine the association and predictors of the demographical and clinical characteristics of the participants and the participants’ decision-control preferences, respectively. A total of 200 patients completed the survey. The patients’ median age was 49.8 years, and 115 (57.5%) were female. Of them, 81 (40.5%) preferred passive decision control, and 70 (35%) and 49 (24.5%) preferred shared and active decision control, respectively. Less educated participants, females, and Muslim patients were found to have a statistically significant association with passive decision-control preferences. Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that, being a male ( p = 0.003), highly educated ( p = 0.018), and a Christian ( p = 0.006) were statistically significant correlates of active decision-control preferences. Meanwhile, the multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that being a male or a Christian were the only statistically significant predictors of active participants’ decision-control preferences. Around 168 (84%) of participants were satisfied with the way decisions were made, 164 (82%) of patients were satisfied with the actual decisions made, and 143 (71.5%) were satisfied with the shared information. The agreement level between decision-making preferences and actual decision practices was significant (ⱪ coefficient = 0.69; 95% CI = 0.59 to 0.79). The study’s results demonstrate that a passive decision-control preference was prominent among patients with advanced cancer in Jordan. Further studies are needed to evaluate decision-control preference for additional variables, such as patients’ psychosocial and spiritual factors, communication, and information sharing preferences, throughout the cancer trajectory so as to inform policies and improve practice.