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It defines experiences of diagnosis, current illness, and future prognosis and is experienced across physical, psychological, and temporal domains. Uncertainty impacts patients, carers, healthcare professionals and health systems; it cannot be eliminated, but it remains unclear how best to address it.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We aimed to identify core goals and approaches when addressing irreducible uncertainty in serious illness to inform the development and implementation of effective interventions. We aimed to answer the question, \u201cWhat should individual clinicians do to deliver \u2018good care\u2019 for patients experiencing irreducible uncertainty associated with serious illness?\u201d<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Design<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>One-day rapid consensus workshop held in the United Kingdom, during which five mixed focus groups of 6\u20138 participants discussed uncertainty in serious illness and the goals of addressing it.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Participants<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Thirty-four participants, including 21 health and social care professionals, 8 researchers, 3 policymakers, and 3 patient representatives. Several participants held multiple roles. Age range 33\u201361 (median 47), 20 (67%) female.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Approach<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Focus group transcripts were analysed inductively using reflexive thematic analysis to generate a thematic model.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Key Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Analysis identified the overarching purpose of addressing uncertainty as \u201cFinding security in uncertainty together,\u201d comprising four key domains of: (1) relationships and trust across the care team; (2) personalisation of uncertainty management to an individual\u2019s need and clinical context; (3) reframing uncertainty as normal and tolerable; and (4) moving forward together through shared decision-making and parallel planning.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This study has generated a new model to approach uncertainty in serious illness. These findings suggest shifting the focus from the patient alone as an individual to strengthening relationality across the care team. Our findings emphasise the need to psychologically reframe living with uncertainty as a core goal, and to negotiate and align the needs of patients, carers, and clinicians when sharing uncertainty.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1007\/s11606-026-10364-z","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,8]],"date-time":"2026-04-08T13:21:15Z","timestamp":1775654475000},"page":"2725-2733","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["What Should We Aim for when Addressing Uncertainty from Serious Illness? 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All participants provided written informed consent.","order":1,"name":"Ethics","label":"Human Ethics and Consent to Participate","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}},{"value":"All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to disclose.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","label":"Conflicts of interest","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}},{"value":"None.","order":3,"name":"Ethics","label":"Competing interests","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}},{"value":"RC conducted this research at University of Cambridge, Department of Public Health and Primary Care (U.K.) but has since moved to Harvard Medical School (U.S.A.).","order":4,"name":"Ethics","label":"Additional Notes","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}}]}}