Measuring patient knowledge of the risks and benefits of prostate cancer screening.
This manuscript describes the development and validation of measures assessing patient knowledge about the risks and benefits of prostate cancer (CaP) screening. The measures described include a 10-item knowledge index and four single-item measures, used in previous studies, that assess knowledge of: CaP natural history and treatment efficacy, expert disagreement over the value of CaP screening, and the accuracy of the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test for CaP. We assessed the validity and reliability of these measures on a sample of 1152 male veteran patients age 50 and older. All knowledge index items had acceptable levels of discrimination, difficulty, and reliability. The index demonstrated strong evidence for construct and criterion validity. Much weaker validity evidence was found for the four single-item knowledge questions. The 10-item index developed in this study provides a valid and reliable tool for assessing patient knowledge of the risks and benefits of CaP screening.
Radosevich
David M
DM
Clinical Outcomes Research Center, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA. davidmr@umn.edu
Partin
Melissa R
MR
Nugent
Sean
S
Nelson
David
D
Flood
Ann Barry
AB
Holtzman
Jeremy
J
Dillon
Nancy
N
Haas
Michele
M
Wilt
Timothy J
TJ
D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D015897:Comorbidity; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards; D008875:Middle Aged; D015146:Midwestern United States; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000592:standards; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D011594:Psychometrics; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014728:Veterans / Q000193:education
D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen