Sue Ziébland|Andrew Herxheimer
How patients’ experiences contribute to decision making: illustrations from DIPEx (personal experiences of health and illness)
University of Oxford|Cochrane
describe people use peoples experiences experiential evidence making health care decisionspeople faced health decisions may employ clinical evidence advice also previous experiences experiences others faced similar decisions professionals taken little notice peoples use experiential evidence importance practice acknowledging would improve communication patientsthe data come dipex personal experiences health illness project involves rigorous analysis narrative interviews people particular conditions chosen represent widest practicable range experiences condition collection consists 4050 interviewsthe analyses peoples experiences summarized patients professionals website httpwwwdipexorg illustrated clips video audio written interviews draw qualitative research conducted dipex consider different ways people integrate experiential information face decisions antenatal screening childhood immunization treatment cancerother patients experiences important part evidence people use making decisions health care people naturally drawn peoples stories add salience medical information make facts palatable memorable patients experiences alternative evidence base part dismiss anecdotes serious misunderstanding established methods grounded social science traditions used research report patients experiences health professionals well patients need consider value experiential evidencemanagers clinicians help patients guiding information resources dipex present evidencebased health information patients experiences