Intergenerational Decision Making: The Role of Family Relationships in Medical Decision Making

Abstract

A symposium held at the 42nd annual Society for Medical Decision Making conference on October 26, 2020, focused on intergenerational decision making. The symposium covered existing research and clinical experiences using formal presentations and moderated discussion and was attended by 43 people. Presentations focused on the roles of pediatric patients in decision making, caregiver decision making for a child with complex medical needs, caregiver involvement in advanced care planning, and the inclusion of spillover effects in economic evaluations. The moderated discussion, summarized in this article, highlighted existing resources and gaps in intergenerational decision making in four areas: decision aids, economic evaluation, participant perspectives, and measures. Intergenerational decision making is an understudied and poorly understood aspect of medical decision making that requires particular attention as our society ages and technological advances provide new innovations for life-sustaining measures across all stages of the lifespan.