Supported decision-making in health care – healthcare providers as supporters?

Overview

https://research.qut.edu.au/achlr/https://research.qut.edu.au/achlr/

One of the most important movements in international disability law is the move towards ‘supported decision-making’. With supported decision-making, people with cognitive disabilities are given support to make their own decisions or actively participate in decision-making, rather than decisions being made on their behalf. Historically, the default has been someone else with legal authority making a ‘substitute decision’ in a person’s ‘best interests’; little was done to maximise a person with a cognitive disability’s autonomy.

Decision-making supporters would usually be taken from close family members or friends. However, some people have no access to such ‘natural’ supporters. For those people, there has been growing recognition that healthcare providers (e.g. doctors and nurses) may have an important role to play as decision-making supporters. However, medical decision-making for people with disabilities has historically been performed on the basis of what the healthcare provider sees as the person’s ‘best interests’, rather than on what that person themselves wants. In addition, the concept and practice of ‘shared decision-making’, as opposed to supported decision-making, is more familiar to clinicians. If healthcare providers are to  play a meaningful role as supporters, education and changes in practice may be needed.

For these reasons, the potential role of healthcare providers as decision-making supporters requires investigation. Given the global movement towards supported decision-making, this topic has domestic and international significance.

This VRES project links to a links to a broader body of research conducted by Professor Shih-Ning Then and collaborators from other Australian universities on supported decision-making from a legal and practical perspective.

Research engagement

The student will use their research and writing skills to access scholarly and other literature and produce two documents.

Research activities

The student will be supervised by Prof Shih-Ning Then and Dr Sam Boyle, and will produce:

• A literature review on the topic of health care professionals as decision-making supporters internationally. This will build on a report from the research team that will be provided to the student.
• A literature review of the conceptual and practical differences and similarities between supported decision-making and shared decision-making.

Outcomes

The two literature reviews produced by the student will feed into a larger body of research that is being conducted on supported decision-making. Depending on the quality of the research, the student may be acknowledged in publications created by the research team.

Skills and experience

The student will have high-level research and writing skills, as demonstrated by strong performances in research-based assessment in their undergraduate degree. The student will ideally have an interest in health law or regulation that affects persons with disabilities. Ideally, the student will have completed LLH471 Health Law and Practice, but this is not essential.

Start date

18 November, 2024

End date

31 January, 2025

Location

The student will be able to work from home, but attend QUT GP for meetings.

Additional information

The student will be available for two periods of supervision, one from November to mid-December, and one from mid-January to February. The particular deadlines for the documents will be negotiated with the student. The project is task based, and there will be no fixed hours of the appointment.

Keywords

• supported decision-making
• disability
• health care
• medical law

Contact

Sam Boyle  samuel.boyle@qut.edu.au