Annotated Bibliography - Essay Example

If men aged 40-70 are aware of pro cancer and its effects, then the occurrence of the disease may be significantly reduced. The refers tothe belief that if men in this age group were more aware of prostate cancer and its possible effects they would be more likely to seek treatment at an early stage and therefore have a better prognosis. This essay will consider two studies on this topic :- Arnold-Reed, D., Hince, D., Bulsara, M., Ngo, H., Eaton, M., Wright, A. Jones, F., Kaczmarczyk,W., Marangou, A.

, and Brett,T. ( 2008) Knowledge and attitudes of men about prostate cancer, Medical Journal of Australia 189 (6): 312-314 This Australian study was of 503 men between the ages of 40 and 80 years, both with and without prostate cancer, who presented themselves for routine consultations during an 8th month period of 2006. The aim was to ascertain the level of understanding the men had of prostate cancer, of the treatment options available to them as well as knowledge of any potential side effects The researchers obtained their data and the resultant statistics used convenience sampling and questionnaires administered by general practitioners.

Using these methods the researchers discovered that 80% of the group were unaware of the role of the prostate. Almost half did not realize that it was the commonest internal male cancer and roughly one third knew nothing about possible treatments. Just over half had no knowledge of treatment side effects. When it came to making a decision about possible treatment 70% answered that they would consult a doctor and then make their own decision. With these statistics in mind the researchers concluded that there was a definite deficit of appropriate knowledge among these men and that they preferred there to be some medical involvement in decision making.

They also discovered a number of misconceptions held by members of the research group. However they offer no suggestions as to how this knowledge can be used, which perhaps questioned why so much effort was spent in obtaining these results. Although the article showed poor knowledge among the group it did not go on to support the hypothesis by showing how this affected long term outcomes. Kilbridge, K., Fraser, G., Krahn,M., Nelson,E., Conaway, M., Bashore, R., Wolf, A., Barry, M, Gong,D, Nease Jr, R.

, Conners, A., 2009, Lack of Comprehension of Common Prostate Cancer Terms in an Underserved Population, American Society of Medical Oncology, This study both assessed knowledge among patients from two clinics used by those with low incomes. and went on to measure outcomes after treatment in African American men, many with poor education, aged 40 plus. Comprehension levels were evaluated by the use of semiqualitative methods, the results then beign coded by independent investigators. The demographics of the sample group were collected and literacy levels were calculated.

Although findings about present knowledge agreed with the first study, the statistics obtained were used to stress the need for better prostate cancer education among this group. The researchers were aware that medical language has becoem specialist and so beyond the every day comprerhension of many. The study was carried out because of the disproportionate mortality rate when compared with white males. Therefore statistics both led the report and were used to suggest future practice such as the use of plain language literature rahter than complicated language understood by only 5% of this population.

Questions were asked such as ‘How can we apply our research findings to improve prostate cancer communication among underserved men? In that sense it was a more useful study than that carried out in Australia, because it looked onward beyond its statistical findings. They speak about further plans for ongoing research. The aim was not just to produce statistics, but top help patients, but is aslo aimed at helping other researchers and practitioners as they deal with similar people, and so , because of changes suggested, it is believed that the hypothesis stated at the beginning of this essay will eventually be proved. . References Arnold-Reed, D.

, Hince, D., Bulsara, M., Ngo, H., Eaton, M., Wright, A. Jones, F., Kaczmarczyk,W., Marangou, A., and Brett,T. ( 2008) Knowledge and attitudes of men about prostate cancer, Medical Journal o f Australia 189 (6): 312-314, retrieved 23rd May 2011 from http://researchonline.nd.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=med_article Kilbridge, K., Fraser, G., Krahn,M., Nelson,E., Conaway, M., Bashore, R., Wolf, A., Barry, M, Gong,D, Nease Jr, R., Conners, A., 2009, Lack of Comprehension of Common Prostate Cancer Terms in an Underserved Population, American Society of Medical Oncology, retrieved 23rd May 2011 from http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/27/12/2015.full