Does information about risks and benefits improve the decision-making process in cancer screening - randomized study.

Area of Science:

• Medical Decision Making
• Health Communication
• Cancer Screening

Background:

• Patient satisfaction with decision-making is influenced by information provision.
• Evidence regarding the impact of risk and benefit information on cancer screening decisions is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if providing information on cancer screening risks and benefits affects satisfaction with the decision made.
• To evaluate the impact of different information scopes on the perceived quality of the decision-making process.

Main Methods:

• A randomized mail survey of 2333 adults aged 30-60 years was conducted.
• Participants evaluated a hypothetical cancer screening scenario with varied risk and benefit information.
• Decision process quality was measured using a 6-item scale (0-100 score).

Main Results:

• Information on benefits slightly increased decision scores (+1.1, p=0.11).
• Information on risks significantly decreased decision scores (-5.1, p<0.001).
• Screening refusers reported lower decision evaluation scores (69.2) than acceptors (85.6, p<0.001).

Conclusions:

• Contrary to expectations, informing individuals about cancer screening risks negatively impacted their decision process assessment.
• The findings suggest a complex relationship between information disclosure and patient satisfaction in cancer screening contexts.