gms | German Medical Science

Background: Spanish prostate cancer patients and health professionals must face diagnostic and treatment decisions. Clinical Practice Guidelines have been developed in this area to provide assistance in decision-making; however, individual patient values and preferences must be taken into account.

Objectives: To develop a PDA tool for prostate cancer, to improve the quality of decisions for therapeutic options and to promote shared decision-making.

Methods: A systematic review (SR) of Decision Aids in prostate cancer was performed. Qualitative research (QR) was conducted: in-depth interviews and a focus group with patients with prostate cancer and health professionals.

Results: SR shows that PDAs in prostate cancer increase knowledge on the illness and reduce passivity in the decision-making process. QR reflects that both patients and professionals agree that type of surgical treatment and side effects are the most important decisions to face. A software format PDA was developed; it offers patient treatment sequence and includes disease information, treatment descriptions, benefits and risks – with visual aids explaining probability of risk –, patient experiences, a glossary, resources and decisional balance sheets with which to reflect individual pros and cons of each option with animated illustrations.

Discussion: QR has been very useful to obtain format and design of the tool (contextualization). This prostate cancer PDA facilitates the integration of individual patient's preferences in clinical decision making.

Implications for guideline developers/users: PDA for prostate cancer allows patients to access information and to share the decisions with the clinical team. It also provides stakeholders the opportunity to exchange experiences.