title: Physicians' perspectives on the informational needs of low-risk prostate cancer patients.
abstract: Despite the evidence indicating that decision aids (DA) improve informed treatment decision making for prostate cancer (PCa), physicians do not routinely recommend DAs to their patients. We conducted semi-structured interviews with urologists (n = 11), radiation oncologists (n = 12) and primary care physicians (n = 10) about their methods of educating low-risk PCa patients regarding the treatment decision, their concerns about recommending DAs, and the essential content and format considerations that need to be addressed. Physicians stressed the need for providing comprehensive patient education before the treatment decision is made and expressed concern about the current unevaluated information available on the Internet. They made recommendations for a DA that is brief, applicable to diverse populations, and that fully discloses all treatment options (including active surveillance) and their potential side effects. Echoing previous studies showing that low-risk PCa patients are making rapid and potentially uninformed treatment decisions, these results highlight the importance of providing patient education early in the decision-making process. This need may be fulfilled by a treatment DA, should physicians systematically recommend DAs to their patients. Physicians' recommendations for the inclusion of particular content and presentation methods will be important for designing a high quality DA that will be used in clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington DC 20007, USA.
authors.forename: Charlotte J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Hagerman
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington DC 20007, USA.
authors.forename: Paula G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Bellini
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington DC 20007, USA.
authors.forename: Kim M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.affiliation: Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine/Iowa City VA Medical Center, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
authors.forename: Richard M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Kaiser Permanente, East Bay, Oakland, CA 94611, USA.
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Aaronson
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington DC 20007, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel Y
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Leigh
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington DC 20007, USA.
authors.forename: Riley E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Zinar
authors.affiliation: Department of Urologic Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232-2765, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Penson
authors.affiliation: Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, CA 94612, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Van Den Eeden
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington DC 20007, USA.
authors.forename: Kathryn L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Taylor
mesh_terms: D003657:Decision Making; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D006801:Humans; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior; D020407:Internet; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D018787:Radiation Oncology; D014572:Urology