Funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs
Funding Years: 2007-2012
Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer related death among men in the United States, and accounts for 29% of all cancers diagnosed in men. Furthermore, approximately one in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. Thus, 17% of male Veterans will be asked to make a decision about the treatment of their prostate cancer. The burden of this disease is further magnified when one considers that most patients will live for years following their diagnosis and with any adverse effects of therapy. Given that there have been no clinical trials showing that any prostate cancer treatment produces an increased likelihood of survival; men are asked to actively participate in treatment decisions. Previous research has revealed that men are often uninformed about their prostate cancer, particularly African American men and men with lower educational attainment. Thus, it is critical to develop and test decision aids that can help all men (especially men with low literacy skills) make an informed decision. The goal of the study was to compare the impact of a plain language decision aid (DA) to a conventional DA on prostate cancer patients’ decision making experience and communication with their physician.
PI(s): Angela Fagerlin, PhD and Peter A. Ubel, MD
Co-I(s): Khaled Hafez, MD; Bruce Ling, MD; Jeffrey Gingrich, MD; Sara Knight, PhD; Phillip Walther, MD; Margaret Holmes-Rovner, PhD; James Tulsky, MD; Stewart Alexander, PhD