title: Does educational printed material manage to change compliance with prostate cancer screening?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The effects of printed educational material on cancer screening in women (Pap test and mammography) are well documented and confirmed by several studies. The aim of our study was to evaluate the impact of similar printed educational material on prostate cancer screening by PSA and DRE.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thousand five hundred men aged between 50 and 86 years of age, who attended our institutions for various medical conditions except prostate-related conditions, were randomly assigned to two study groups. Men in the informed group, received an educational leaflet with simple, general information on prostate cancer screening methods given by their physician along with treatment and other regular recommendations, while men in the non-informed group, were only informed by their physician in the examination room during an interview.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After 24 months, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of DRE screening. The percentages of men who were actually screened by DRE were 4 and 5% in the informed and non-informed groups, respectively, while the difference in the percentages of PSA screening was of statistical significance, with 31% of men screened in the non-informed group as compared to 93% of men screened in the informational leaflet group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A single, one-shift distribution of printed educational material on prostate cancer screening, changed their attitude regarding prostate cancer screening only in favour of PSA testing, while did not manage to change the DRE acceptance behavior. However, since the combination of the two tests is more sensitive for diagnosis than either one alone, there is a need of introducing intervention strategies, in the efforts of ameliorating the prostate cancer screening behavior.
authors.affiliation: Outpatient Department, General Hospital of Thebes, Thebes, Greece. stamatiouk@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stamatiou
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Skolarikos
authors.forename: Ioannis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Heretis
authors.forename: Vaios
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Papadimitriou
authors.forename: Alevizos
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alevizos
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ilias
authors.forename: Vasilissa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Karanasiou
authors.forename: Anargiros
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mariolis
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sofras
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D051517:Digital Rectal Examination; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010174:Pamphlets; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen