Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the impact of a new informed decision tool on the decision making process of women invited to the national screening for breast cancer. This new tool is a document giving a complete, accessible to all, and scientifically based information on both advantages and disadvantages of the national breast cancer screening.
Methods: The informed decision tool (called DECIDEO booklet) was sent to 4000 women with the usual invitation to participate to the national breast screening. One month later, a panel of 400 women randomised among those 4000 was interviewed by phone with a questionnaire dealing with: - the satisfaction concerning the help to get a decision the DECIDEO booklet brings to them - the level of knowledge about breast cancer and screening the DECIDEO booklet brings to them - the help through the decisional conflict the DECIDEO booklet brings to them - characteristics of the respondents’ women including specific focus on socio-economic characteristics
Results: 403 women aged between 50 and 74 answered the questionnaire. Among this sample, 30 % (121) of them actually read the DECIDEO booklet and 20% kept it. Among the women who read the DECIDEO booklet, 98% of them find the information given satisfactory, of good quality and sufficient to take a decision concerning the participation to national breast cancer screening. Having read the document increases the intention to participate to the national breast cancer screening by 12% (56% versus 44%, p<0,05) and increases the average knowledge about breast cancer and interest of the screening of 6 % (82,5 % versus 76,5%). Interestingly, the socio-economic level strongly affects the level of knowledge about breast cancer and screening of the overall sample (71,5% for the women of a lower socio-economic level versus 80 % for the women of a higher socio-economic level, p<0,05).
Conclusions: The DECIDEO booklet was assessed as a satisfactory help for the decision making process by 98% of the users. It increases the knowledge level about breast cancer and screening, but mainly among the women with a high socio-economic level. The question raised is: is it the informed decision approach that is not adapted for the women of a lower socio-economic level or is it the booklet form of the tool ?
See more of: The 33rd Annual Meeting of the Society for Medical Decision Making