Abstract
Atopic Dermatitis (AD) has increasingly become prevalent. Multiple treatments exist for AD; and, physicians have different opinions regarding the best treatment. This multiplicity causes parents of AD children to wonder which treatment to choose for their children. According to a study done in the U.K., although the parents wished to have a shared decision making (SDM) with physicians in choosing the treatment, in reality most of them made decision all by themselves. The parents claimed this discrepancy was caused partly by the fact that physicians did not supply them with needed information regarding treatments for AD. This study analyzed whether factors other than the parents' unmet information needs exist that hamper SDM. My result suggests that the parents' repulsion for treating AD by steroids is another factor that could impede SDM. Conversely, physicians' efforts to supply needed information that are appropriate to conditions of respective AD children and stages of the disease facilitate SDM.
