This definition shows that informed choice consists of three components:

• Knowledge relevant to your needs
• Your values and preferences
• Putting your decision into practice

Making informed choices is best done through a process of shared decision-making. This is a three-stage process:

• Information exchange – building your knowledge
• Deliberation – thinking about your values and preferences, and
• Implementation – putting your decision into practice.

We will discuss each of these stages in more detail. You will probably move back and forwards between information exchange and deliberation a few times before coming to a decision. There are no hard and fast rules. The process should work for you.