The evidence about age differences in decision-making is still evolving, yet age differences in experiential and deliberative processes have emerged and have important implications for decision making. These findings could have important implications for the design and development of behavioral economics applied to health care and for the use of decision aids to involve patients in shared medical decision making. Thus, the aim of this R13 application is to provide a forum within the annual meeting of SMDM to communicate and disseminate results and emerging trends related to aging-specific research in the fields of behavioral economics and decision aid development. The Society for Medical Decision-Making is a professional research organization that promotes scientific and methodological rigor in health care decision and behavioral science and their application to clinical care and health policy. SMDM's Annual Meeting is the focal point of the organization's educational and training activities. The annual meeting regularly attracts 500 - 600 attendees. The meeting provides a forum for presentation of novel research based on decision and behavior theory and analytical models applied to health related decisions in ambulatory care, hospital medicine, and public health domains. Conference sessions include research presentations, keynote talks, special symposia and short courses that offer attendees the opportunity to explore diverse topics in medical decision making. We plan to develop specific program of aging related research in behavioral economics and decision aid development for shared decision making over the next three annual meetings for the Society of Medical Decision Making. For the meeting in 2011 we are planning 2 symposia, 1 keynote speaker, 2 new short courses, and 1 oral abstract session to accomplish these aims. These plans for 2011 are organized around the theme of behavioral economics. For the meeting in the two subsequent years we will organize 1 symposium, 1 oral abstract session and 2 short courses to accomplish our aim.
By providing a forum within the annual meeting of the Society for Medical Decision for dissemination of results and merging trends related to aging-specific research in the fields of behavioral economics and decision aid development, this project aims to improve shared medical decision making and thereby enhance the health and health care of aging populations.
