University of Sydney; Sydney, NSW, Australia Background: Australian women aged 50-69 years are offered biennial mammography screening. Awareness of overdiagnosis of breast cancer is minimal, yet understanding this important harm is integral to making informed choices. Aims: We aimed to generate evidence regarding how best to communicate with women about overdiagnosis in mammography screening. Methods: After reviewing the literature on overdiagnosis in breast screening, we explained and discussed the risk of overdiagnosis in focus groups with 50 diverse women, exploring their understanding and sources of confusion. Findings informed the development of a draft information booklet for women approaching screening age, which then entered a thorough piloting and refinement process using interviews with women to improve comprehension and acceptability. Results: We will present and discuss key features of the information booklet, for example: Offering choice: Readers are invited to consider whether or not they wish to have screening Illustration to explain the overdiagnosis concept: This helps women understand that screening could lead to a diagnosis and treatment that are not needed you may This addresses key questions and misunderstandings ‘Questions have’ box: relating to overdiagnosis Visualizing risk: A 1000-person diagram illustrates the absolute number of breast cancer diagnoses over 20 years, including the number of overdiagnosed cases based on an estimate derived from randomised trials and applied to current local data Putting overdiagnosis in context: Overdiagnosis is presented alongside other important screening outcomes (breast cancer mortality reduction, false positives) Summary table: This facilitates comparison of outcomes with and without screening Plain language: Choice of words was guided by consumer input, and a glossary defines all medical terms. Conclusions: The process of developing an information booklet for women considering mammography screening identified important design and presentation aspects that can help optimise communication about overdiagnosis in breast cancer and other contexts. Title Ms City Sydney Full Name Jolyn Hersch Country Australia Affiliation School of Public Health, The Phone +612 9036 9042
University of Sydney; Sydney, NSW, Australia Background: Australian women aged 50-69 years are offered biennial mammography screening. Awareness of overdiagnosis of breast cancer is minimal, yet understanding this important harm is integral to making informed choices. Aims: We aimed to generate evidence regarding how best to communicate with women about overdiagnosis in mammography screening. Methods: After reviewing the literature on overdiagnosis in breast screening, we explained and discussed the risk of overdiagnosis in focus groups with 50 diverse women, exploring their understanding and sources of confusion. Findings informed the development of a draft information booklet for women approaching screening age, which then entered a thorough piloting and refinement process using interviews with women to improve comprehension and acceptability. Results: We will present and discuss key features of the information booklet, for example: Offering choice: Readers are invited to consider whether or not they wish to have screening Illustration to explain the overdiagnosis concept: This helps women understand that screening could lead to a diagnosis and treatment that are not needed ‘Questions you may have’ box: This addresses key questions and misunderstandings relating to overdiagnosis Visualizing risk: A 1000-person diagram illustrates the absolute number of breast cancer diagnoses over 20 years, including the number of overdiagnosed cases based on an estimate derived from randomised trials and applied to current local data Putting overdiagnosis in context: Overdiagnosis is presented alongside other important screening outcomes (breast cancer mortality reduction, false positives) Summary table: This facilitates comparison of outcomes with and without screening Plain language: Choice of words was guided by consumer input, and a glossary defines all medical terms. Conclusions: The process of developing an information booklet for women considering mammography screening identified important design and presentation aspects that can help optimise communication about overdiagnosis in breast cancer and other contexts. Title Ms City Sydney Full Name Jolyn Hersch Country Australia Affiliation School of Public Health, The Phone +612 9036 9042
POD-Abstracts.docx