ORIGINAL: A Survey of What Healthcare Professionals Consider as Relevant for Decisional Autonomy in Health and Treatment in Nigeria

West Afr J Med. 2024 June; 41(6): 644–650 PMID: 39340766

Abstract

Background: Autonomy is one of the key ethical principles enshrined in Part II of the Nigerian National Health Act 2014. To ensure compliance with this principle, it is pertinent that Health Care Professionals (HCPs) understand and know what it entails to ensure that patients are empowered to pursue their decisional autonomy. This survey seeks to explore what HCPs consider as relevant for empowering patients to exercise decisional autonomy, in line with the Nigerian Health Act.

Methods: An online survey, targeted at Nigerian HCPs, was conducted to explore what they consider as relevant in enabling an individual to make autonomous decisions about their health and treatment.

Results: HCPs consider patients' soundness of mind as relevant in making autonomous decisions about their health and treatment. Factors such as patients' current health status, their understanding of treatment options, risks, benefits, and patients' ability to understand and retain information were considered relevant in making informed decisions about their health. Factor analysis of the study questionnaire revealed that the designed questionnaire can be used to audit how well HCPs empower their patients with their decisional autonomy. The reliability coefficient of the questionnaire was found at 0.718.

Conclusions: Our study found a convergence of views by HCPs and the Nigerian Health Act on enabling the decisional autonomy of patients regarding their health and treatment. Competent patients should be given the necessary knowledge about their condition, available diagnosis, and available treatment as well as support to empower them to make truly autonomous decisions regarding their health and treatment.