Impact of providing audiotapes of primary treatment consultations to men with prostate cancer: a multi-site, randomized, controlled trial.

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this investigation was to systematically examine the efficacy of providing men with prostate cancer with an audiotape of their primary treatment consultation.

METHOD

Participants included 425 men newly diagnosed with prostate cancer and 15 radiation oncologists from 4 cancer centers in Canada. Patients were block randomized to one of four consultation groups: 1. Standard care control--not audio-taped; 2. Audio-taped--no audiotape given; 3. Audio-taped--patient given audiotape; and 4. Audio-taped--patient offered choice of receiving audiotape or not (4 patients declined; 94 accepted). Patient outcomes were measured at 12 weeks post-consultation: perceived degree of information provision; audiotape satisfaction and use; communication satisfaction with oncologist; mood state; and cancer-specific quality of life.

RESULTS

Patients receiving the consultation audiotape reported having been provided with significantly more disease and treatment information in general (p=0.04), and more information about treatment alternatives (p=0.04) and treatment side effects (p=0.01) in particular, than patients who did not receive the audiotape. Audiotape benefit was not significantly related to patient satisfaction with communication, mood state or quality of life at 12 weeks post-consultation, and was not significantly affected by choice of receiving the audiotape. Patients rated the audiotape intervention positively, with an average score of 83.0 out of 100.

CONCLUSION

Consultation audiotapes are rated highly by men with prostate cancer, and these audiotapes help to enhance their perception of having been provided with critical disease- and treatment-related information.