Developing web-based online support tools: the Dartmouth decision support software.

TOPIC This article discusses the development of Web-based online decision support tools intended for researchers examining the issue of shared decision making for the population of individuals with serious mental illnesses. PURPOSE The authors describe the background and use of decision support tools to facilitate shared decision-making between individuals diagnosed with a psychiatric condition and clinicians and describes a novel software platform that allows researchers and other system designers to build decision support systems. CONCLUSIONS In supporting ongoing research efforts, an online decision support tool appears to be useful for individuals facing preference-sensitive decisions and an online designer tool allows for rapid deployment of these research sites to support ongoing research efforts in shared decision making.