Low-risk thyroid cancer grows very slowly. More than 99% of patients with this cancer survive for at least 5 years. There are 3 main treatment options: remove the whole thyroid, remove just the part of the thyroid with the cancer in it, or leave the cancer in the thyroid and monitor it. Survival is similar across the 3 main treatment options. It can be difficult for patients to choose a treatment option, especially when feeling anxious about the cancer diagnosis. In this study, enrolled patients will receive a decision aid after finding out they have cancer but before meeting a surgeon. This decision aid is a pamphlet. It gives information about the treatment options and a list of questions for patients to ask their surgeons at their clinic visit. The investigators will test whether this aid changes patient decision anxiety and decision readiness.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
34
Decision aid developed by Pitt \& Saucke (2020) called CQUPLE (chart \& question prompt list)
University of Maryland, Baltimore
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Decisional Conflict
Decisional conflict will be quantified with the Decisional Conflict Scale (DCS). Range: 0 \[no decisional conflict\] to 100 \[extremely high decisional conflict\]
Time frame: (1) Baseline, (2) after receiving decision aid (approx Day 1 to Day 30), and (3) after going to surgeon clinic appointment (approx Day 2 to Day 45)
Decision Anxiety
Anxiety about decision-making will be measured using Spielberger's State Trait Anxiety Index (STAI) 6-item state form. Range: 4.09 \[highly anxious\] to -4.14 \[not at all anxious\].
Time frame: (1) Baseline, (2) after receiving decision aid (approx Day 1 to Day 30), and (3) after going to surgeon clinic appointment (approx Day 2 to Day 45)
Decision Readiness
Decision readiness will be measured with the Stage of Decision-making (Stage-DM) scale. Range: 1 \["haven't begun to think about the choices"\] to 6 \["have already made a decision and am unlikely to change my mind"\].
Time frame: (1) Baseline, (2) after receiving decision aid (approx Day 1 to Day 30), and (3) after going to surgeon clinic appointment (approx Day 2 to Day 45)
Decision Aid Acceptability
Decision aid acceptability will be measured with the Preparation for Decision-Making (Prep-DM) scale. Range: 0 \[lowest level of preparation for decision-making\] to 100 \[highest level of preparation for decision-making\].
Time frame: After receiving decision aid (approx Day 1 to Day 30)
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