Providing practitioner-specific outcomes is associated with higher patient satisfaction with information about prostate cancer treatment

Abstract

6106 Background: After being diagnosed with prostate cancer, patients must assimilate abundant cancer related information. Satisfaction with Information (SWI) is a patient’s cognitive evaluation of information sources used to understand and select therapy. We sought to describe sources of information used by prostate cancer patients and to identify factors associated with SWI. Methods: 1,072 men with newly diagnosed prostate cancer have enrolled in the prospective, multi-center PRostate cancer Outcomes and Satisfaction with Treatment Quality Assessment (PROST-QA) study. Reports of source(s) of information were documented prior to treatment (radical prostatectomy, external radiation, brachytherapy or combination). The validated SWI domain of the Service Satisfaction Scale-Cancer (SSS-Ca) was completed by patients 2 months following treatment. Relationships between socio-economic factors, demographics, cancer severity, and types of information sources and satisfaction (SWI) were evaluated with multivariate regression. Results: Sources of information endorsed by patients varied by race ( Table ), education, and study site. The most helpful sources of information were description of treatment by a physician (32.8%), books and internet (18.3% each), family/friends (16.6%) and pamphlets/brochures (11.4%). In bivariate analysis internet use was negatively associated with SWI (p=0.025). In multivariable models patient age (p=0.005) and information provided by the physician regarding their own outcomes (p=0.01) were independently associated with SWI. Conclusions: Although a variety of informational sources were endorsed by patients, only printed results for physician’s own patients was associated with SWI. Because SWI is a function of both experiences and expectations, providing patients with a treating physician’s results may improve satisfaction by enhancing concordance of expectations and outcomes. [Table: see text] [Table: see text]