Discrepancies between primary care patients’ and professionals’ perceptions of person-centered care and shared decision-making: A cross-sectional study

Discrepancies between primary care patients’ and professionals’ perceptions of person-centered care and shared decision-making: A cross-sectional study | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Discrepancies between primary care patients’ and professionals’ perceptions of person-centered care and shared decision-making: A cross-sectional study Yolanda Ramallo-Fariña, Miguel Ángel García-Bello, Juan Ignacio Capafons-Sosa, and 5 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8319023/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 8 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background Person-centered care (PCC) and shared decision-making (SDM) are key components of high-quality primary care, yet professionals and patients often perceive them differently. Understanding these discrepancies is essential to improve communication and chronic care management. This study examines the agreement between patients’ and healthcare professionals’ assessments of PCC and SDM in routine primary care. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study in primary care involving healthcare professionals and their patients with chronic conditions. Participants completed validated PCC and SDM questionnaires. Paired comparisons, correlation analyses, and multilevel models were used to assess discrepancies between professionals’ self-ratings and patients’ evaluations. Results Physicians scored significantly higher than patients on both the PACIC (and all of its subscales) and the SDM questionnaires. Patients show very low scores on both instruments. There were no significant correlations between HCPs’ scores and the mean of their attended patients, with most values near to zero. The only significant predictors of greater discrepancy were professional female gender (for the PACIC, only in the univariate analysis), lower education level (for the SDM-Q-9) and older patients’ age (for both). Conclusion There is a significant gap between professionals and patients’ perceptions of PCC and SDM, showing null correlations between them and consistently higher scores for professionals, and this discrepancy is significantly greater for older and less-educated patients. More research is needed to explore the source of these discrepancies and to develop interventions targeting alignment of perspectives. Efforts to improve care should prioritize patient empowerment and equity to align experiences, enhance satisfaction and ensure fair, sustainable chronic care. Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files SupplementaryTablesArtACPProf151225.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Jan, 2026 Reviews received at journal 25 Jan, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 20 Jan, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 20 Jan, 2026 Editor invited by journal 29 Dec, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 19 Dec, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 19 Dec, 2025 First submitted to journal 09 Dec, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8319023","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":577740432,"identity":"7a38639f-5252-4ee0-aacb-15c5d11568b5","order_by":0,"name":"Yolanda Ramallo-Fariña","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Canary Islands Health Research Institute Foundation (FIISC)","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yolanda","middleName":"","lastName":"Ramallo-Fariña","suffix":""},{"id":577740433,"identity":"9ffd35a1-75cd-4f78-89fe-0a8c1e6269bd","order_by":1,"name":"Miguel Ángel 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Understanding these discrepancies is essential to improve communication and chronic care management. This study examines the agreement between patients’ and healthcare professionals’ assessments of PCC and SDM in routine primary care.\nMethods\nWe conducted a cross-sectional study in primary care involving healthcare professionals and their patients with chronic conditions. Participants completed validated PCC and SDM questionnaires. Paired comparisons, correlation analyses, and multilevel models were used to assess discrepancies between professionals’ self-ratings and patients’ evaluations.\nResults\nPhysicians scored significantly higher than patients on both the PACIC (and all of its subscales) and the SDM questionnaires. Patients show very low scores on both instruments. There were no significant correlations between HCPs’ scores and the mean of their attended patients, with most values near to zero. The only significant predictors of greater discrepancy were professional female gender (for the PACIC, only in the univariate analysis), lower education level (for the SDM-Q-9) and older patients’ age (for both).\nConclusion\nThere is a significant gap between professionals and patients’ perceptions of PCC and SDM, showing null correlations between them and consistently higher scores for professionals, and this discrepancy is significantly greater for older and less-educated patients. More research is needed to explore the source of these discrepancies and to develop interventions targeting alignment of perspectives. Efforts to improve care should prioritize patient empowerment and equity to align experiences, enhance satisfaction and ensure fair, sustainable chronic care.","manuscriptTitle":"Discrepancies between primary care patients’ and professionals’ perceptions of person-centered care and shared decision-making: A cross-sectional study","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-01-22 20:12:59","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8319023/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"23073864839679055855822958416278434816","date":"2026-01-26T23:35:47+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-01-25T10:34:32+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"205027493212256721995234470442950981414","date":"2026-01-20T12:01:23+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2026-01-20T10:55:11+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2025-12-29T08:17:19+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-12-19T05:58:50+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-12-19T05:58:49+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making","date":"2025-12-09T14:28:42+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"bmc-medical-informatics-and-decision-making","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"midm","sideBox":"Learn more about [BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making](http://bmcmedinformdecismak.biomedcentral.com/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"https://www.editorialmanager.com/midm/default.aspx","title":"BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making","twitterHandle":"BMC_series","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"BMC Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"4f4a0570-5a02-4af6-a09e-0530558d5793","owner":[],"postedDate":"January 22nd, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-01-22T20:12:59+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-01-22 20:12:59","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8319023","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8319023","identity":"rs-8319023","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}