Shared Decision Making for Patients With HER2-negative Metastatic Breast Cancer (SDM-01) (SDM-01)

May 5, 2026 updated by: Grazia Arpino, Federico II University

Implementing Shared Decision Making (SDM) For HER2 Negative Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients (SDM-01 Study)

Background and Purpose:

Deciding on the best treatment for HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is a complex process. Patients often have unique values and preferences regarding their care and quality of life. Shared Decision Making (SDM) is a communication process where doctors and patients work together to make healthcare choices. This study aims to evaluate whether providing specific SDM training to oncologists and educational materials to patients can improve the quality of these conversations and make the treatment process feel more focused on patient goals.

Study Design and Procedures:

This is a prospective, randomized multicenter study involving oncology centers in Italy. A total of 120 patients starting their first-line therapy for HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer will participate. Participants and their oncologists will be assigned to one of two main study arms:

The SDM Trained Group: This group includes different approaches, such as formal SDM training for oncologists, providing educational materials (booklet and video) to patients, or a combination of both.

The Usual Care Group: In this group, patients and oncologists follow standard care processes without specific SDM training or additional educational materials.

What to Expect:

Patients in all groups will be asked to complete standardized questionnaires (such as CollaboRATE, SURE, and SDM-Q-9) at two time points: on Day 1 after the first encounter with the oncologist and at a 6-month follow-up. These surveys will measure the patient's perception of the decision-making process, their satisfaction with the treatment choice, and their overall quality of life.

Goal:

The researchers hypothesize that educational training for patients and/or physicians will improve the quality of conversations about MBC therapy. If successful, this study may provide tools to enhance patient adherence to treatment and overall well-being.

Study Overview

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

120

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Confirmed diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer (MBC).

HER2-negative status (as per ASCO/CAP guidelines).

Patients scheduled to receive or currently receiving their first-line therapy for metastatic disease.

Age ≥ 18 years.

Willingness to participate in the study and provide written informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

Diagnosis of early-stage breast cancer (non-metastatic).

HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

Age < 18 years.

Refusal to sign the study-specific informed consent form.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Physician and Patient Trained
Comprehensive Shared Decision Making (SDM) program. No drug treatment will be administered in this study. The intervention consists of two components: 1) A virtual training program for oncologists on SDM communication skills; 2) Educational materials for patients (booklet and video) to support treatment choice. Depending on the assigned study arm, participants may receive one, both, or neither of these components.
Experimental: Physician Only Trained
Comprehensive Shared Decision Making (SDM) program. No drug treatment will be administered in this study. The intervention consists of two components: 1) A virtual training program for oncologists on SDM communication skills; 2) Educational materials for patients (booklet and video) to support treatment choice. Depending on the assigned study arm, participants may receive one, both, or neither of these components.
Experimental: Patient Only Educated
Comprehensive Shared Decision Making (SDM) program. No drug treatment will be administered in this study. The intervention consists of two components: 1) A virtual training program for oncologists on SDM communication skills; 2) Educational materials for patients (booklet and video) to support treatment choice. Depending on the assigned study arm, participants may receive one, both, or neither of these components.
No Intervention: Usual Care
Patients and oncologists follow standard care processes. No specific training on Shared Decision Making (SDM) is provided to the oncologist, and no additional educational materials are given to the patient. Both parties will only complete the study questionnaires to evaluate the baseline quality of decision-making.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
SDM-Q-9 (9-item Shared Decision Making Questionnaire)
Time Frame: Baseline and 6 months
A 9-item scale used to measure the level of shared decision-making from the patient's perspective. Each item is scored on a 6-point Likert scale from 0 (completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree). The total score is transformed to a scale of 0 to 100, where higher scores indicate a higher level of involvement in the decision-making process.
Baseline and 6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

June 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

July 1, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

January 1, 2029

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 5, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 5, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

May 11, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 11, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 5, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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