Objective—Our objective was to describe primary care patients’ perceptions of informed and
shared decision making about cancer screening tests in a diverse sample.
Methods—We administered a 33-item survey to 467 women and 257 men aged 50 years and
older from seven practices in a family medicine practice-based research network. We used ordered
logistic regression to assess the relationship between gender, race, education, marital status, and
self-rated health with measures of patient-centered care relating to cancer screening tests,
controlling for practice site.
Results—Men had greater odds than women of reporting they did not know the benefits of
cancer screening (1.46, 95% CI=1.08, 1.99). Compared to white respondents, black respondents
reported greater odds of not knowing the benefits (1.70, 95% CI=1.23, 2.36) and risks (1.38, 95%
CI=1.00, 1.90) of cancer screening, of not making informed choices (1.50, 95% CI=1.09, 2.07),
and that their doctor did not give them some control over their cancer screening tests (1.57, 95%
CI=1.12, 2.20). Low education level was also associated with lower perceptions of informed
decision making.
Conclusions—Patients with male sex, non-white race, and low education level reported more
uncertainty about cancer screening tests and less patient-centered care
