The EMIRATES Study - Development and Evaluation of Thyroid Cancer Patient Decision Aid (PDA-TC) - Pilot Study
This pilot study will take place in thyroid outpatient clinics. It will have two study arms running in consecutive order: first, a Control arm where standard care will take place without PDA-TC, then a Patient Decision Aid (PDA) arm where the PDA-TC is implemented into the clinical practice. Within each arm, eligible patients will attend two thyroid cancer outpatient clinical consultations during which the patient will make a shared decision with their clinicians regarding surgical treatment between hemithyroidectomy and total thyroidectomy. In the PDA arm, the PDA TC pamphlet will be introduced to study participants after the initial clinical consultation. The participants will be encouraged to read and digest information related to the disease and treatment options on PDA-TC before returning for their second consultation where a treatment decision will be made together with their clinicians. Participants will be asked to complete the Decisional Conflict Scale questionnaire after each consultation in both study arms. The patient will also complete a Satisfaction with Decision Scale questionnaire and a Preparation for Decision Making Scale questionnaire after the second consultation in both arms.
• Aged over 18
• Both genders
• Patients who are diagnosed of low-risk well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma (papillary thyroid carcinoma or follicular carcinoma) with size of 1-4cm. This is either:
‣ Diagnosed pre-operatively by fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) with Thy5 grade \[see appendix for the Thy classification\] or
⁃ Confirmed following diagnostic hemithyroidectomy
• Able to communicate in spoken and written English