title: Information needs of early-stage prostate cancer patients: a comparison of nine countries.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Providing information to patients can improve their medical and psychological outcomes. We sought to identify core information needs common to most early-stage prostate cancer patients in participating countries.
  
  
  METHODS
  Convenience samples of patients treated 3-24 months earlier were surveyed in Canada, England, Italy, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Netherlands, Spain, and Turkey. Each participant rated the importance of addressing each of 92 questions in the diagnosis-to-treatment decision interval (essential/desired/no opinion/avoid). Multivariate modelling determined the extent of variance accounted by covariates, and produced an unbiased prediction of the proportion of essential responses for each question.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Six hundred and fifty-nine patients responded (response rates 45-77%). On average, 35-53 questions were essential within each country; similar questions were essential to most patients in most countries. Beyond cross-country similarities, each country showed wide variability in the number and which questions were essential. Multivariate modelling showed an adjusted R-squared with predictors country, age, education, and treatment group of only 6% of the variance. A core of 20 questions were predicted to be essential to >2/3 of patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Core information can be identified across countries. However, providing the core should only be a first step; each country should then provide information tailored to the needs of the individual patient.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cancer Care and Epidemiology, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada. deb.feldman-stewart@krcc.on.ca
authors.forename: Deb
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Feldman-Stewart
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Capirci
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brennenstuhl
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.forename: Ufuk
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Abacioglu
authors.forename: Marzena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gawkowska-Suwinska
authors.forename: Francis
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: van Gils
authors.forename: Alicja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Heyda
authors.forename: Sefik
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Igdem
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Macias
authors.forename: Isabel Monteiro
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Grillo
authors.forename: Clare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Moynihan
authors.forename: Madelon
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pijls-Johannesma
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.forename: Nuno
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pimentel
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wördehoff
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology* / Q000532:radiotherapy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires