Validation of the 3-item WELL Scale (What Engagement Looks Like)

The authors highlight the crucial role of patients’ behaviors in managing chronic diseases like diabetes. They examine the effectiveness of patients’ efforts to control the disease based on how much patients felt engaged in their healthcare.

WELL score was correlated with patient activation commitment to predict “physicians’ ratings of how much effort patients devoted to condition management,” while did not predict “physicians’ ratings of how effective patients were” considering their A1c score.

• For some patients, managing their chronic condition may require minimal effort to achieve optimal clinical outcomes. In other cases, patients may put forth significant effort but are unable to achieve results. 
• Having better data on patients’ views of their self-management efforts may help strengthen the relationship between patients and clinicians and help clinicians identify patients needing more intensive guidance and support. 
• Shared Decision Making (SDM) is used for making a ‘preference-sensitive’ decision when there is more than one reasonable option for how to treat that condition, and the best option depends on the patient’s goals and values related to that decision.