Does Physician Description of Therapeutic Options Influence Breast Cancer Patient Treatment Choice?
Abstract
We developed an instrument to assess the use of information framing by physicians in their conversations with breast cancer patients. In order to simultaneously increase the precision of the instrument and approximate a clinical setting, we used multiple methods of data collection. We used audiotapes of initial consultations between oncologists and cancer patients; a scenario-based survey of oncologists requesting treatment recommendations and written free-form discussion of treatment options; and simulated patients trained to represent breast cancer patients in physician offices. The methodology we employed led to the development of an instrument with reproducible results across coders, an instrument capable of detecting differences in content between clinical scenarios and in different components of physician discussion (prompted and unprompted). Most importantly, the instrument is capable of detecting information framing, both written and verbal, in physician discussion of treatment options with breast cancer patients.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1996
- Accession Number
- ADA323007
Entities
People
- Kevin A. Schulman
Organizations
- Georgetown University