Comparison Arm (Healing Choices)
breast cancer, prostate cancer, Cancer
BREAST CANCER, DISEASE, PROSTATE CANCER, CANCER
Patients randomly assigned to the comparison arm received information through the Healing Choices program, accessed in the same setting and under the same conditions as patients in the intervention arm.The Healing Choices program represents a virtual health center that patients visit to obtain disease and treatment-related information. The software was designed to be open to exploration with an intuitive layout, without restrictions in terms of order of access. Information is stored in virtual rooms, such as a library, a conference room showing videos by survivors who discuss their approach to treatment, and physician offices containing videos of physicians representing different treatment specialties. All information was extensively vetted by health education experts of the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Information Services (CIS). See Comparison of Healing Choices and Healium.Versions of Healing Choices for prostate cancer and early-stage breast cancer were evaluated in nationwide randomized controlled trials. Analyses of Healing Choices for men with prostate cancer indicated a significant intervention effect on levels of perceived decisional support, which was greatest for non-White minority participants and patients with lower educational attainment [Although Healing Choices is Internet based, due to a server malfunction, 27 of the 156 (17.31%) participants randomized to the comparison arm received a paper version of Healing Choices. There were no significant differences in any demographic variables between those receiving the web version of Healing Choices and those receiving the paper version of Healing Choices (data not shown).