Improving Psychosocial Quality of Life in Women With Advanced Breast Cancer
Improving Psychosocial Quality of Life in Women With Advanced Breast Cancer
Through a patient participation aid (PPA) the investigators hope to improve the psychosocial
 well-being of women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer by empowering them to be active
 participants in clinical encounters.
The team has developed a brief Patient Participation Aid (PPA) to promote patient health
 literacy and encourage women to be active in the decisions that are being made about their
 healthcare which will lead to their satisfaction with healthcare and improves their
 psychosocial well-being. The paper-based PPA uses adult learning principles to limit and
 sequence plain language messages that have been framed from a patient's perspective. The PPA
 uses theory-based design to increase patients' involvement in the medical visit by modeling -
 through text and images - how a patient can: 1) set the visit agenda, 2) formulate questions,
 and 3) assert personal preferences. The specific aims of this study are to: 1- Assess the
 effectiveness of the PPA to increase patient involvement during clinical encounters. 2-
 Evaluate the effectiveness of the PPA to improve patient psychosocial outcomes. 3- Explore if
 the effect of the PPA varies by patients' literacy skills. To achieve this aims, the
 investigators will conduct a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the PPA among patients
 with a new diagnosis or progression of metastatic breast cancer at two cancer centers that
 serve diverse patient populations.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  female patients with metastatic breast cancer seeing one of the study physicians at
 one of the identified study clinics

 -  age 21 or older

 -  having suspected progression of metastatic disease

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  patients with an uncorrectable hearing impairment or having limited English
 proficiency, as this would adversely affect their ability to communicate with the
 physician

 -  patients with uncorrectable vision impairment, as this would make it impractical for
 the patient to read the intervention

 -  patients too ill to meaningfully converse with the physician