title: Does information about risks and benefits improve the decision-making process in cancer screening - randomized study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Whether the provision of evidence-based information improves satisfaction with decision-making is unclear.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine whether information about risks and benefits of cancer screening leads to a higher satisfaction with the decision that was made.
  
  
  METHODS
  Randomized mail survey in the general population, among 2333 adults aged 30-60 years. The survey included a hypothetical cancer screening scenario that included varying amounts of information about benefits and risks of screening (factorial randomized design). The decision process was evaluated by a 6 item scale, with scores between 0 (lowest score) and 100 (highest score).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Substantial proportions of respondents "completely agreed" that the decision reflected what was most important to them (61.2%), were satisfied with their decision (56.0%), were certain of their decision (54.1%), thought that the best choice for them was obvious (53.5%) and that the decision was easy to make (44.1%). The Cronbach alpha coefficient of the scale was 0.88, the mean score was 82.5, and the standard deviation 17.5. Providing information about benefits increased the decision evaluation score only modestly (+1.1, p=0.11); in contrast, providing information about risks sharply reduced the score (-5.1, p<0.001). Those who refused the screening test had lower scores than those who accepted the screening test (69.2 versus 85.6, p<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Contrary to expectations, informing potential participants about the risks of cancer screening lowered their assessment of the decision process.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Epidemiology, University Hospitals of Geneva, Switzerland. thomas.perneger@hcuge.ch
authors.forename: Thomas V
authors.initials: TV
authors.lastname: Perneger
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Schiesari
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cullati
authors.forename: Agathe
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Charvet-Bérard
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003657:Decision Making; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D011897:Random Allocation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires