Choice Points: Breast Cancer Treatment CD-ROM

Breast cancer will strike approximately one in eight American women over their life span, with 178,700 new cases anticipated in 1999. This Phase II SBIR will result in a multimedia CD-ROM, Coming Out Ahead(Tm), that will help women make informed breast cancer treatment decisions. The product will focus on the personal aspects of the treatment, giving women an opportunity to consider non-medical needs during the treatment period, to learn how a suggested treatment will impact their lives, and to learn ways to manage these impacts. In Phase II, we will research and produce remaining informational content and graphic elements and concurrently identify and develop additional decision-support tools for the CD-ROM. The complete decision- support system will included information about breast cancer, its treatments, and the impact of those treatments, as well as tools for more effective information processing, patient-provider communication, treatment-related problem-solving, and clarification of treatment- related preferences and values. Product effectiveness in increasing women's confidence about their treatment decision will be field tested with recently diagnosed women with early-stage breast cancer. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: This product has commercial potential for use by a pharmaceutical company as value-added patient education, for managed care organizations for their members, and as a consumer product sold individually to patients.