Decision Aid

The videos (“decision aids”) below were used in a research study comparing different ways of educating average risk patients about colorectal cancer (”colon cancer”) screening. All participants viewed the “General Decision Aid,” which presents information about colon cancer and two of the most popular screening tests.  

Half the participants also viewed a “personalized risk message” that told them the chance they currently have a large polyp or colon cancer, called an “advanced colorectal neoplasm” (ACN). The chance of having an ACN is estimated from the person’s gender, age, smoking history, waist circumference, and whether any family members had colon cancer. For more information about how the chance of having an ACN is calculated, see https://estimatingriskofacn.iu.edu/.

Each of the Personal Risk Messages are inserted into the General Decision Aid before the closing segment.

This work was supported through a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Program Award (CDR-2018C3-14715)  https://www.pcori.org/research-results/2019/does-personalized-risk-information-help-patients-and-doctors-make-informed-decisions-about-colorectal-cancer-screening.

For screening, people are considered average risk if they do not have:

• A personal history of colorectal cancer or certain types of polyps
• A personal history of inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease)
• A family history of colorectal cancer
• A family history of a hereditary colorectal cancer syndrome, such as familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) or Lynch syndrome (hereditary non-polyposis colon cancer or HNPCC)

For more information, please contact the study team at iucbdas@iu.edu or 317-278-3254.