Your chance to answer vital questions for Europa Uomo’s EU-PRESS research project
You should be involved in decisions
When men receive a diagnosis of prostate cancer, there are important decisions to be made – mainly about which treatments to receive. These decisions affect men’s length and quality of life, and men with prostate cancer and their partners should be closely involved in them.
The process of patients and their doctors jointly discussing the risks and benefits of each treatment and then deciding on the best options for that individual patient is called shared decision making (SDM).
If performed well, SDM can make prostate cancer treatment and its aftermath much easier. But if decisions are not shared, it can lead to worry, suffering and regret that the wrong decisions were made.
Europa Uomo is running a new study examining how well decisions are being shared between patients and doctors. In our previous studies such as EUPROMS and EU-PROPER we have discovered from patients and their partners that shared decision making is not easy and does not always take place.
Now we want to find out more, in our new EU-PRESS (Europa Uomo Patient REported Shared decision making Study) research.
You can access the survey here.
Does being involved in decisions affect quality of life?
In particular, we want to find out whether men who are not involved in decisions have a worse quality of life after treatment. This might be because the treatment that resulted in side effects that didn’t suit the patient’s priorities in life, or because treatment effects were unexpected and affected him psychologically.
So we want to find out about men’s quality of life, so that we can compare this with how much they were involved in decisions.
How you can take part
If you have consulted with your doctor about treatment for prostate cancer since January 2022 (even if, in the end, you didn't receive treatment), we want you to tell us about your experiences of shared decision making by completing an online survey. The information you provide will provide valuable knowledge, which will help guide other patients and will help Europa Uomo campaign for improvements.
Please go to this link, and answer our questions on:
- Your cancer
- Your health
- Your quality of life
- What your doctor discussed with you before treatment
- How you feel about your treatment
Your answers will be completely anonymous.
You can access the survey here.
Please complete the survey by 31st December 2024.
How you can help us
Please help us publicise the survey so that we get as many respondents as possible. You can use the information in here in your newsletters, and use the artwork below in your communications and social media posts.
