Abstract Purpose: Personalized risk communication (PRCom) can help individuals make informed decisions about electing to undergo cancer screening based on their specific risk. In this systematic review, we examined existing risk communication strategies used in the presentation of PRCom and how they may impact screening-related cognitive and behavioral outcomes. Methods: We searched Embase.com, Ovid-Medline All, Scopus, CINAHL Complete, and CENTRAL Trials (via Cochrane Library) for randomized controlled trials addressing interventions with an element of “personalized” cancer risk communication based on the individual’s risk factors. Results: Eighteen unique studies were included. From these 18 studies, we extracted data on PRCom presentation methods and outcome measures such as knowledge and screening completion. Text was used in the majority of PRCom (56%, n = 10), followed by graphs (39%, n = 7), icon arrays (17%, n = 3), charts (17%, n = 3), graphics (17%, n = 3), and video (6%, n = 1). None of these studies included direct format comparisons. We found that knowledge of risk increased in scenarios where PRCom: 1) combined visual (e.g., videos) and text-based communication; and 2) used verbatim (4/5), rather than gist communication (2/7). Screening completion also increased for PRCom with both visual and text-based communication (3/4). However, knowledge of risk and screening completion were minimally impacted if PRCom used only text/verbal communication (1/3 for knowledge of risk, 0/2 for screening completion) or only visual aids (1/3 for knowledge of risk, 2/5 for screening completion). Conclusion: Future research examining the translation of communication strategies to screening-related cognitive and behavioral outcomes is warranted.
Anandarajah et al. (Sat,) studied this question.
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