Table 3 Needs and preferences of focus group participants on treatment modality education and decision-making, SDM, online PtDAs and outcome information

Education and decision-making

Don’t forget the person behind the patient*

Clearly define the patient journey and take the lead as primary practitioner*

Provide mentorship and guidance throughout the educational and decision-making process*

Coordinate with colleagues and adjust the education based on the educational needs of patients*

Evaluate how well patients understand the provided information*

Explore how patients make their choices, and who was involved in the decision-making process*

SDM

Strive for an equal patient-physician relationship*

Facilitate patients in preference elicitation and values-clarification*

Explicitly communicate when the decision has to be made*

Explicitly communicate that the opinions and wishes of patients are important in the decision*

Do not try to “sell” any treatment modality, even if they have superior medical outcomes*

Online PtDA

Exercise caution for “informational overload”*

Strive for collaboration and integrate everything on one platform*

Consider clinical practice when designing the PtDA*

Pay attention to culture and health literacy*

Outcome information

Give patients autonomy in viewing outcome information*

Provide tailored outcome information when possible*

Provide guidance on the interpretation of treatment outcomes*

Pay attention to data visualization*