Developing web-based online support tools: the Dartmouth decision support software

Abstract

Topic: This article discusses the development of Web-based online decision support tools intended for researchers examining the issue of shared decision making for the population of individuals with serious mental illnesses.

Purpose: The authors describe the background and use of decision support tools to facilitate shared decision-making between individuals diagnosed with a psychiatric condition and clinicians and describes a novel software platform that allows researchers and other system designers to build decision support systems.

Conclusions: In supporting ongoing research efforts, an online decision support tool appears to be useful for individuals facing preference-sensitive decisions and an online designer tool allows for rapid deployment of these research sites to support ongoing research efforts in shared decision making.