Background Shared decision making (SDM) utilisation has increased in recent years with a noted increase in the effectiveness of treatment. Many studies have confirmed that decision aids (DAs) improve participation in SDM more than standard counselling.

Purpose To evaluate a DA that supports depressed patients in decision making regarding using antidepressant treatment and improves the quality of decision making by increasing patients’ involvement in SDM.

Material and methods A pilot randomised, controlled, double blind study was conducted at Al-Amal Complex for Mental Health in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia, between March and May 2014. The impact of the developed DA on patients’ involvement was assessed by observing patient involvement in decision making (OPTION Scale) in a counselling session by a trained clinical pharmacist and an assistant researcher, and the data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences, v.17.

Results The impact of the DA was assessed by interviewing 44 depressed participants in SDM sessions. Based on the OPTION Scale, a 13% difference was noted between the control and intervention groups (66% and 79% of involvement, respectively). There was a significant improvement in the involvement of patients in the intervention group (p < 0.05) in comparison with the control group. However, there was a statistically significant difference (p < 0.01) in the elicitation of the patient’s preferred level of involvement in decision making in favour of the intervention group.

Conclusion The DA showed evidence of improving patients’ participation in the SDM process which was assessed using the OPTION Scale. Further research is needed to evaluate the DA’s true effectiveness and its impact on long term outcomes.

No conflict of interest.