Trial reportJournal of general internal medicine2015
Adult Patients' Perspectives on the Benefits and Harms of Overused Screening Tests: a Qualitative Study.
Trial report in Journal of general internal medicine, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Stakeholders' perceptions and experiences of factors influencing the commissioning, delivery, and uptake of general health checks: a qualitative evidence synthesis.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Antenatal screening practices in the WHO European Region: a mixed methods study.Journal of global health · 2020Pooled it
- Men's perspectives of prostate cancer screening: A systematic review of qualitative studies.PloS one · 2017Pooled it
- Does Messaging for Reducing Breast Cancer Overscreening in Older Women Have Differential Responses among Medical Minimizers and Maximizers?Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making · 2026Trial
- The effect of conflicting versus consistent messaging on older women's support for breast cancer screening cessation.Patient education and counseling · 2025Trial
- Persuasive Interventions for Controversial Cancer Screening Recommendations: Testing a Novel Approach to Help Patients Make Evidence-Based Decisions.Annals of family medicine · 2017Trial
- Article
- Why do older adults stop cancer screening? Findings from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2025Article
- Factors associated with patients' demand for low-value care: a scoping review.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Older women's perspectives on the ethics of persuasion in doctor-patient communication.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2024Article
- Article
- Going against the status quo in screening: Call to action to improve teaching in preventive health care.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2022Article
- Why do people take part in atrial fibrillation screening? Qualitative interview study in English primary care.BMJ open · 2022Article
- Delivering the unexpected-Information needs for PSA screening from Men's perspective: A qualitative study.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2021Article
- Psychological distance: a qualitative study of screening barriers among first-degree relatives of colorectal cancer patients.BMC public health · 2021Article
- Patient and general practitioner views of tools to delay diagnostic imaging for low back pain: a qualitative study.BMJ open · 2020Article
- Assessment of Clinician Decision-making on Cancer Screening Cessation in Older Adults With Limited Life Expectancy.JAMA network open · 2020Article
- Preparing African American Men to Make Informed Prostate Cancer Screening Decisions: Development and Pilot Testing of an Interactive Online Decision Aid.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2020Article
- Patients' views about screening for atrial fibrillation (AF): a qualitative study in primary care.BMJ open · 2020Article
- The physical examination: a survey of patient preferences and expectations during primary care visits.Postgraduate medicine · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIn recent years, there has been a growing interest in reducing the overuse of healthcare services. However, little is known about how patients conceptualize the benefits and harms of overused screening tests or how patients make decisions regarding these tests.
objectiveTo determine how patients think about the harms and benefits of overused screening tests and how they consider these and other factors when making decisions.
designSemi-structured, qualitative interviews.
participantsThe study comprised 50 patients, ages 50-84, who had previously received or not received any of four overused screening services: 1) prostate cancer screening (men ages 50-69), 2) colon cancer screening (men and women ages 76-85), 3) osteoporosis screening (low-risk women ages 50-64), or 4) cardiovascular disease screening (low-risk men and women ages 50-85). APPROACH: We conducted a thematic analysis, using a hybrid inductive-deductive approach. Two independent coders analyzed interview transcriptions to identify themes and exemplifying quotes. KEY
resultsMany patients could not name a harm of screening. When they did name harms, patients often focused on only the harms of the screening test itself and rarely mentioned harms further along the screening cascade (e.g., from follow-up testing and treatment). In contrast, patients could easily name benefits of screening, although many seemed to misunderstand or overestimate the magnitude of the benefits. Furthermore, patients described many additional factors they considered when making screening decisions, including their clinicians' recommendations, their age, family or friends' experiences with disease, and insurance coverage.
conclusionsThis study highlights the need to help adults recognize and understand the benefits and harms of screening and make appropriate decisions about overused screening tests.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.