Aboriginal women have a right to safe and effective care practices, including participation with health care providers in making meaningful decisions about their
health. Shared decision making (SDM) is a process of collaboration between health care providers and clients,developed within Western-informed health care settings. SDM has been found to increase the client’s level of satisfaction with care decisions by better meeting client’s information needs and incorporation of client’s values into health care decisions. In summary, SDM is central to patient-centred care. Evidence derived from studies conducted with Aboriginal people about SDM in health care settings is limited. Our previous study indicated that Aboriginal women view SDM as including relational features and which are identified as core competencies for SDM [11] although these views
are not yet evident in mainstream models of SDM or in SDM tools and approaches.