Organizational, Market, and Population Influences of Physician Practice Use of Decision Aids for Breast Cancer Screening
Hector Rodriguez, Professor
Public Health
Closed. This professor is continuing with Fall 2023 apprentices on this project; no new apprentices needed for Spring 2024.
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in the United States. Current guidelines recommend that women participate in breast cancer screenings until the age of 74. While false-positive results remain a risk, regular screenings may enable early detection of malignancies. Decisions about whether to undergo screening should depend on patients’ unique health status and preferences, and primary care clinicians should ideally be facilitating comprehensive discussions about risk/benefit trade-offs.
Decision aids are one tool that clinicians can use to structure conversations about screening and treatment decisions, their associated risks and trade offs, and patients’ individual health goals. In 2018, decision aids for breast cancer screening were being used by approximately ⅓ of U.S. physician practices, but little is known about the primary care practice capabilities, external market, or population factors that impact use of decision aids for breast cancer screening. The current project aims to address a gap in the literature by identifying how these factors may be associated with greater use of decision aids for breast cancer screening. This information can be used to develop strategies to support the use of decision aids in primary care practices.
Role: To conduct this analysis, physician practice responses to the 2017/2018 National Survey of Healthcare Organizations and Systems (NSHOS) of physician practices will be linked to (i) the Area Deprivation Index from the Neighborhood Atlas (ii) U.S. Census data on poverty, and (iii) the Area Health Resource File for health care workforce and population characteristics.
Responsibilities of the candidate will include:
Working with the research team to conduct an updated literature review.
Developing tables and/or figures to support the publication.
Assisting the research team with writing a research paper and reference management. Co-authorship opportunities are available.
Qualifications: Interest in primary care practices’ efforts to engage patients in their own treatment decisions and/or breast cancer screening.
Familiarity with statistical analysis software (e.g., STATA, R, etc.).
Willingness to learn STATA and assist with basic statistical analyses.
Eagerness to learn about health services research and health policy.
Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Rachel Ross, Ph.D. candidate
Hours: 6-8 hrs
Related website: http://choir.berkeley.edu/
Related website: https://choir.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/1-s2.0-s0749379722002288-main.pdf