Table 1.

Patient Characteristics from a Multisite Study about Shared Decision-Making Preferences and Information-Seeking Behaviors at 34 Community Health Centers (N = 974)

	Total, %	Whites, %	African Americans, %	P Value
Age (mean [y], SD)	58 (12.8)	59 (53)	57 (64)	0.014
18–39	8	8	7
40–65	61	58	68
>65	31	35	25
Gender				0.001
Female	69	65	75
Marital status				<0.001
Married/living as married	41	46	31
Divorced/widowed/separated	44	44	44
Never married	15	10	25
Education				<0.001
Some high school or less	33	29	41
High school graduate	40	40	40
Some college	19	20	15
College graduate or higher	8	10	4
Self-reported health status				0.04
Excellent/very good	16	17	15
Good	39	38	39
Fair	33	31	37
Poor	12	14	9
Years at health center (mean, SD)	9.0 (8.8)	9.4 (9.4)	8.3 (7.6) 0.08	0.08
Insurance statusa
Medicare-Medicaid dual eligible	7
Medicare	25
Medicaid	16
Private	14
Other	7
No insurance	31
Health center geographical locationa
Rural	53
Urban	47

^aSee Chin and others.¹⁵