A multimedia interactive education system for prostate cancer patients: development and preliminary evaluation.
BACKGROUND
A cancer diagnosis is highly distressing. Yet, to make informed treatment choices patients have to learn complicated disease and treatment information that is often fraught with medical and statistical terminology. Thus, patients need accurate and easy-to-understand information.


OBJECTIVE
To introduce the development and preliminary evaluation through focus groups of a novel highly-interactive multimedia-education software program for patients diagnosed with localized prostate cancer.


METHODS
The prostate interactive education system uses the metaphor of rooms in a virtual health center (ie, reception area, a library, physician offices, group meeting room) to organize information. Text information contained in the library is tailored to a person's information-seeking preference (ie, high versus low information seeker). We conducted a preliminary evaluation through 5 separate focus groups with prostate cancer survivors (N = 18) and their spouses (N = 15).


RESULTS
Focus group results point to the timeliness and high acceptability of the software among the target audience. Results also underscore the importance of a guide or tutor who assists in navigating the program and who responds to queries to facilitate information retrieval.


CONCLUSIONS
Focus groups have established the validity of our approach and point to new directions to further enhance the user interface.
Diefenbach
Michael A
MA
Fox Chase Cancer Center, Division of Population Science, 333 Cottman Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19111-2497, USA. ma_diefenbach@fccc.edu
Butz
Brian P
BP
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003197:Computer Literacy; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*; D003657:Decision Making; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D017144:Focus Groups / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019212:Multimedia / Q000639:trends*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms; D012984:Software / Q000639:trends; D018454:Spouses / Q000193:education; D014584:User-Computer Interface