Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Clinical Trial
. 2003 May-Jun;1(1):22-8.
doi: 10.1370/afm.7.

Patient education for informed decision making about prostate cancer screening: a randomized controlled trial with 1-year follow-up

Robert J Volk  1 , Stephen J Spann, Alvab R Cass, Sarah T Hawley
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Patient education for informed decision making about prostate cancer screening: a randomized controlled trial with 1-year follow-up

Robert J Volk et al. Ann Fam Med. 2003 May-Jun.

Abstract

Purpose: The efficacy of prostate cancer screening is uncertain, and professional organizations recommend educating patients about potential harms and benefits. We evaluated the effect of a videotape decision aid on promoting informed decision making about prostate cancer screening among primary care patients.

Methods: A group of 160 men, 45 to 70 years of age, with no history of prostate cancer, were randomized to view or not to view a 20-minute educational videotape before a routine office visit at a university-based family medicine clinic. The subjects were contacted again 1 year after their visit to assess their receipt of prostate cancer screening (digital rectal examination [DRE] or prostate-specific antigen [PSA] testing), their satisfaction with their screening decision, and knowledge retention since the baseline assessment.

Results: Follow-up assessments were completed for 87.5% of the intervention subjects and 83.8% of the control subjects. The rate of DRE did not differ between the 2 groups. Prostate-specific antigen testing was reported by 24 of 70 (34.3%) intervention subjects and 37 of 67 (55.2%) control subjects (P = .01). African American men were more likely to have had PSA testing (9 of 16, 56.3%) than were white men (13 of 46, 28.3%) (P = .044). Satisfaction with the screening decision did not differ between the study groups. Intervention subjects were more knowledgeable of prostate cancer screening than were control subjects, although these differences declined within 1 year (P < .001).

Conclusions: Decision aids for prostate cancer screening can have a long-term effect on screening behavior and appear to promote informed decision making.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flow of the Study.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Changes in Subjects’ Knowledge about Prostate Cancer Screening. Differences are significant at P < .001, from repeated measures ANOVA.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2002. Atlanta, Ga: American Cancer Society; 2002.
    1. Smith RA, Mettlin CJ, Davis KJ, Eyre H. American Cancer Society guidelines for the early detection of cancer. CA Cancer J Clin 2000;50:34–39. - PubMed
    1. American Urological Association. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) best practice policy. Oncology (Huntingt) 2000;14:267–272, 277–278, 280 passim. - PubMed
    1. Ferrini R, Woolf SH. American College of Preventive Medicine Practice Policy: Screening for prostate cancer in American men. Am J Prev Med 1998;15:81–84. - PubMed
    1. US Preventive Services Task Force. Guide to clinical preventive services: report of the US Preventive Service Task Force. 2nd ed. Baltimore, Md: Williams & Wilkins; 1996.

Publication types

Substances