Coaching to support men in making informed choices about prostate cancer screening: A qualitative study

• Published in: Patient education and counseling Vol. 101; no. 5; pp. 872 - 877
• Main Authors: Ilic, Dragan, Murphy, Kerry, Collins, Veronica, Holden, Carol
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier B.V 01.05.2018
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Australia; Choice Behavior; Decision Making; Decision support model; Early Detection of Cancer; Focus Groups; General Practitioners; Humans; Interviews as Topic; Male; Mass Screening; Middle Aged; Nurse Practitioners; Nursing; Patient Education as Topic; Primary care; Prostate cancer; Prostatic Neoplasms - diagnosis; Prostatic Neoplasms - prevention & control; Qualitative Research; Australia; Decision making; Prostate cancer; Primary care; Decision support model
• ISSN: 0738-3991; 1873-5134
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pec.2018.01.003

•General practitioners have limited opportunity to engage in shared decision making.•Decision coaching may facilitate informed patient decision making.•Perceived barriers to decision coaching include time, resources and cost. The objective of this study was to examine the perceptions of men, practice nurses (PNs) and general practitioners (GPs) on patient decision coaching for prostate cancer screening. Seven focus groups were conducted with 47 participants, representing three stakeholder groups − men, GPs and PNs. All focus group discussions were conducted by the same facilitator and guided by a semi-structured interview schedule. Transcriptions were analysed by thematic analysis. Knowledge about the merits of prostate cancer screening was high amongst GPs, but limited with PNs and men. All groups saw the value in PN-led decision coaching for men considering screening for prostate cancer, but had reservations about its implementation in practice. Barriers to implementing a decision coaching system with PNs included staffing and cost of implementation. GPs, PNs and men identified benefits for the use of a PN-led decision coaching support intervention to assist men with making an informed choice about screening for prostate cancer. Stakeholders had reservations about how a PN-led intervention would effectively work in clinical practice. A feasibility study is required to examine barriers and enablers to implementing a PN-led decision coaching process for prostate cancer screening in the Australian primary healthcare setting.