The effects of reasoned shared decision-making on consultation outcomes: Results of a randomized controlled experiment among a student population

Shared decision-making (SDM) has been promoted as an ideal model for doctor–patient communication. Additionally, several studies have advocated doctors’ use of argumentation to support their treatment recommendations. Therefore, this experiment explores the effects of doctors’ use of SDM indicators and argumentation on patients’ advice recall, intended adherence, and satisfaction (2 × 2 factorial design). The findings suggest that doctors’ combined use of argumentation and SDM results in significantly higher satisfaction with the consultation than SDM and argumentation alone. These results shed a new light on the relevance of argumentative discourse in the specific context of contemporary medical communication.