What does it take to have sustained use of decision aids? A programme evaluation for the Breast Cancer Initiative

The Breast Cancer Initiative (BCI) was started in 2002 to disseminate breast cancer decision aids (PtDAs) to providers.

We analysed BCI programme data for 195 sites and determined the proportion of sites involved in each of five stages of dissemination and implementation of PtDAs. We conducted cross-sectional mail and telephone surveys of 79 sites with the most interest in implementation. We examined barriers associated with sustained use of the PtDAs.

Since 2002 we attempted contact with 195 sites to join the BCI. The majority indicated interest in using PtDAs 172 of 195 (88%), 93 of 195 signed up for the BCI (48%), 57 of 195 reported distributing PtDAs to at least one patient (57%), and 46 of 195 reported sustained use (24%). We analysed data from interviews with 59 of 79 active sites (75% response rate). The majority of providers 49 of 59 (83%) had watched the PtDAs, and 46 of 59 (78%) distributed them to patients. The most common barriers were lack of a reliable way to identify patients before decisions are made (37%), a lack of time to distribute the PtDAs (22%) and having too many educational materials (15%). Sites that indicated a lack of clinician support as a barrier were significantly less likely to have sustained use compared to sites that didn't (33% vs. 74%, P = 0.02).

Community breast cancer providers, both physicians and non-physicians, express a high interest in using PtDAs with their patients. About a quarter of sites report sustained use of the PtDAs in routine care.