Listen: Shared Decision-Making in Colorectal Cancer Screening

No Easy Answers in Bioethics logoNo Easy Answers in Bioethics Episode 20

This episode features guests Dr. Karen Kelly-Blake, Associate Professor in the Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences, and Dr. Masahito Jimbo, Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at University of Michigan Medical School. Drs. Kelly-Blake and Jimbo discuss their NIH-funded study known by the acronym DATES—Decision Aid to Technologically Enhance Shared Decision Making—which addressed shared decision-making, decision aids, and patient-physician communication regarding colorectal cancer screening. The two researchers provide insight into the study and its results, also reflecting on what the process of shared decision-making means to them in the present day.

Ways to Listen

This episode was produced and edited by Liz McDaniel in the Center for Ethics. Music: “While We Walk (2004)” by Antony Raijekov via Free Music Archive, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. Full episode transcript available.

About: No Easy Answers in Bioethics is a podcast series from the Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences in the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. Each month Center for Ethics faculty and their collaborators discuss their ongoing work and research across many areas of bioethics. Episodes are hosted by H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online.

Dr. Kelly-Blake a co-author of shared decision-making article in ‘American Journal of Preventive Medicine’

Kelly-blakeCenter Associate Professor Dr. Karen Kelly-Blake is co-author of a research article in the July 2019 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The multi-institution research team includes lead author Dr. Masahito Jimbo of the University of Michigan.

“Interactivity in a Decision Aid: Findings From a Decision Aid to Technologically Enhance Shared Decision Making RCT” reports on a study that used a randomized control trial to compare the effect of a web-based decision aid that addressed colorectal cancer screening. They concluded that the interactive decision aid did not improve the outcome compared to the non-interactive decision aid.

The full text is available online via Science Direct (MSU Library or other institutional access may be required to view this article).

Correlates of Patient Intent and Preference on Colorectal Cancer Screening

Karen Kelly-Blake photoCenter Assistant Professor Dr. Karen Kelly-Blake is a co-author of an article in the April 2017 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The article, “Correlates of Patient Intent and Preference on Colorectal Cancer Screening,” is co-authored by Masahito Jimbo, MD, PhD, MPH, Ananda Sen, PhD, Melissa A. Plegue, MA, Sarah T. Hawley, PhD, MPH, Karen Kelly-Blake, PhD, Mary Rapai, MA, Minling Zhang, BS, Yuhong Zhang, BS, and Mack T. Ruffin IV, MD, MPH.

From 2012 to 2014, a total of 570 adults aged 50–75 years were recruited from 15 primary care practices in Metro Detroit for a trial on decision aids for colorectal cancer screening. The article discusses the results of that trial. The full article text is available on the ScienceDirect website (MSU Library or other institutional access may be required to view this article).

Dr. Karen Kelly-Blake receives award in support of new study

Kelly-blakeCenter Research Associate Dr. Karen Kelly-Blake has received an award from the Norman Kagan Endowment for Graduate and Professional Studies. This award supports Dr. Kelly-Blake’s proposal, Men’s Health and Masculinity: Implications for Colorectal Cancer Screening.

Dr. Kelly-Blake’s study will capture the masculinity-related concerns expressed in conversations between primary care doctors and their male patients about colorectal cancer screening. The study promises to add a much needed dimension to understanding the related contextual influences on men’s decisions to participate in CRC screening. Insights gained will suggest new directions for improving men’s participation in preventive health behaviors as well as highlighting practical strategies for improving sensitive communication between physicians and their male patients. The long-term goal of this research project is to inform, rethink, and reframe the efforts needed to motivate and encourage men’s participation in measures that hold promise for improving the medical care and treatment they receive.