Decision making and prostate cancer screening

Abstract

This article presents an overview of the challenges that men encounter in making decisions about prostate cancer screening, including complex affective and cognitive factors and controversies in the interpretation of the evidence on prostate cancer screening. Shared decision making involving patient decision aids are discussed as approaches that can be used to improve the quality of prostate cancer screening decisions, including a close alignment between a man's values, goals, and preferences and his choice about screening.

Keywords: Informed decision making; Patient decision aid; Patient preferences; Patient values; Prostate cancer screening; Prostate specific antigen (PSA) test; Shared decision making; Values clarification.