Abstract
In recent years there has been an increased focus to empower patients and encourage them to share in the healthcare decision-making process. This approach, known as shared decision-making (Stacey et al., 2014), contrasts with the long-held paternalistic approach of a medical provider making healthcare decisions on behalf of their patients. Although the current trend is to actively engage the patient in the decision-making process, there are mixed findings in the literature regarding whether- and to what extent older adults want to participate in medical decision-making (Chiu et al., 2016; Doherty & Doherty, 2005). The conflicting results raise questions about what factors may influence a patient’s desire to participate in decision-making. A study of 157 community-dwelling older adults (ages 60+) using Amazon Mechanical Turk was conducted to examine the extent to which older adults preferred a doctor to make their medical decisions. Three factors were found to be significantly associated with greater physician control over decision-making: agreeableness (□ = -.233, p < .05), external health locus of control (□ = -.356, p < .01), and trust in physician (□ = -.258, p < .05). Patients who were more agreeable, had greater external locus of control and had more trust in their physician were more likely to prefer the physician making the medical decision. Findings suggest that we can begin to account for patient preferences by considering these variables, and further strategies designed to enhance physician trust and internal locus of control should be considered when at least modest patient-collaboration is desired.