ORIGINAL INVESTIGATION Internet Patient Decision Support A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Alternative Approaches for Men Considering Prostate Cancer Screening

Background: We conducted a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effects of patient decision support Web sites on decision quality for men considering pros-tate cancer screening. Methods: Men older than 50 years (N=611) were ran-domly assigned to 1 of 4 Internet conditions: traditional didactic decision aid providing information about prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening options and outcomes; chronic disease trajectory model for prostate cancer fol-lowed by a time–trade-off exercise; both the didactic de-cision aid and the chronic disease trajectory model; or links to public prostate cancer–specific Web sites from cred-ible sources (control condition). Participants completed questionnaires at baseline and after their physical exami-nation. Primary outcome measures were PSA test choice