Decision aid reduces conflict in breast cancer treatment

(HealthDay)—Chinese women considering surgery for breast cancer have less decisional conflict and subsequent regret if they receive an educational take-home booklet to involve them in decision making, according to a study published online July 8 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Noting that breast cancer decision aid studies have been done in Western women for primary surgery, Wendy W.T. Lam, Ph.D., from the University of Hong Kong, and colleagues randomly assigned 276 Chinese women considering surgery for early-stage breast cancer to a take-home booklet (decision aid) or the standard information booklet (control) after the initial consultation.

Based on interview-based questionnaires, the researchers found that decisional conflict scores were significantly lower for the decision-aid group one week after consultation. The decision-aid group also had significantly lower decision regret scores four and 10 months after surgery and significantly lower depression scores 10 months after surgery.

"Use of this decision aid was associated with reductions in decisional conflict, decision regret, and depression over time without increasing anxiety levels among Chinese women," Lam and colleagues write.