# Developing a Standardized Process Assessment for Relationship-Centered Shared Decision-Making (SPARCSdm)

> **NIH AHRQ R01** · GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $446,112

## Abstract

Project Summary
This project's goal is to develop an assessment that captures the process of shared decision-making
(SDM) for persons who cannot advocate for themselves because they lack the cognitive capacity to
decide for themselves and the ability to communicate their wishes. Current SDM assessments are not
designed for these individuals and generally focus on encounter outcomes rather than the process by
which SDM unfolds. To address this knowledge gap, a team of multi-disciplinary researchers, healthcare
stakeholders, and care partners will collaborate to design and test the observer-rated Standardized Process
Assessment of Relationship-Centered Shared Decision-Making (SPARCSdm), informed by our
relationship-centered SDM process model. In Aim 1, we will observe, interview and analyze patient-
practitioner-care partner triad encounters where decisions are made. These observations will be used to
define modifiable collaboration and information exchange skills, identify items and rating scales for the
SPARCSdm, and design a prototype assessment including administration procedures. In Aim 2, assessors
will be trained using an online, competency-based training developed specifically for this project; once
trained, they will observe videotaped SDM encounters and separately score care partners and practitioner
on the SPARCSdm. These data, analyzed using the many facets Rasch model (MFRM) to adjust for
assessor severity/leniency and encounter complexity, will provide preliminary evidence of SPARCSdm
psychometrics, facilitate appraisal of the assessment's conceptual and structural validity, and inform
refinements of the online training. In Aim 3, we will apply the Knowledge to Action implementation
science strategy to scale up the prototype for future testing by identifying supports and barriers, usability,
and acceptability. This project advances care for persons with chronic disabilities and their care partners
by developing a process assessment that is relationship-centric, inclusive of multiple perspectives, and
user-friendly. As such, it is highly responsive to AHRQ's request for projects that develop an SDM
process assessment, informed by a conceptual model, to capture multiple perspectives for priority
populations such as persons with disabilities who need chronic care. This assessment is needed because
clinical supervisors and medical educators currently struggle to identify when SDM has taken place and
which practitioners and care partners need support with SDM skills. Attention to usability and integration
of supports and barriers to implementation throughout the design process ensures this project will
effectively set the stage for larger scale testing of the SPARCSdm, and longer-term, for measuring the
effectiveness of intervention programs aimed at improving SDM.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10883587
- **Project number:** 5R01HS028657-03
- **Recipient organization:** GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Trudy Ruth Mallinson
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** AHRQ
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $446,112
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-08-05 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10883587

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10883587, Developing a Standardized Process Assessment for Relationship-Centered Shared Decision-Making (SPARCSdm) (5R01HS028657-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10883587. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*