The perception of shared medical decision making of expert and lay people: effects of observing a movie clip depicting a medical consultation.

Objective: To test for differences between experts and lay people in assessment of the degree to which a doctor engaged in a shared decision making (SDM) with a patient using the OPTION scale and a movie clip as stimulus material.

Methods: A segment of the movie 'Wit', depicting the communication of the diagnosis and the therapy proposed of a cancer, was shown to (a) university students with no knowledge about doctor-patient communication; (b) nurses working in medicine departments; (c) advanced medical students; (d) hospital physicians. The participants were asked to complete the OPTION scale which measures the extent to which physicians involve patients in medical decisions.