Item | Preworkshop (N=8) n (%) | Postworkshop (N=8) n (%) | 6-week follow-up (N=6) n (%) |
Seen or heard of the term ‘overdiagnosis’ before (yes/no) Yes | 8 (100) | – | – |
Please briefly describe what overdiagnosis means in your own words Coded as correct | 4 (50) | 8 (100) | 5 (83) |
Routine screening means testing healthy, asymptomatic people to find signs of diseases such as cancer. Do you think routine screening tests for healthy people are almost always a good idea?27 | |||
Yes | 6 (75) | 0 | 1 (17) |
No | 2 (25) | 5 (63) | 4 (67) |
Don’t know | 0 | 3 (38) | 1 (17) |
All cancers will cause illness and death if they are not found or treated26 | |||
True | 1 (13) | 0 | 0 |
False* | 6 (75) | 8 (100) | 6 (100) |
Don’t know | 1 (13) | 0 | 0 |
Have you ever heard of cancers that grow so slowly that they are unlikely to cause you problems in your lifetime?27 | |||
No | 1 (13) | 0 | 0 |
Yes | 7 (88) | 8 (100) | 6 (100) |
Some screening programmes (eg, for prostate cancer) lead some people with harmless cancers to get treatment they do not need (would not benefit from)26 (True/false/don’t know) | |||
True* | 5 (63) | 8 (100) | 6 (100) |
Don’t know | 3 (38) | 0 | 0 |
Some screening programmes (eg, mammography for breast cancer) find harmless cancers more often than they prevent deaths from cancer26 | |||
True* | 2 (25) | 6 (75) | 3 (50) |
False | 3 (38) | 1 (13) | 0 |
Don’t know | 3 (38) | 1 (13) | 3 (50) |
Disease definitions are based on distinct and objective biological structures or processes (‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’) | |||
Strongly disagree | 3 (38) | 4 (50) | 2 (33) |
Somewhat disagree | 2 (25) | 2 (25) | 2 (33) |
Neither agree nor disagree | 1 (13) | 1 (13) | 0 |
Somewhat agree | 2 (5) | 1 (13) | 2 (33) |
Definitions of diseases and conditions can change over time (‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’) | |||
Somewhat agree | 0 | 1 (13) | 2 (33) |
Strongly agree | 8 (100) | 7 (88) | 4 (67) |
Diseases can be defined arbitrarily and subjectively by a group of people who decide where the threshold between ‘normal’ and disease lies (‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’) | |||
Somewhat agree | 4 (50) | 3 (38) | 3 (50) |
Strongly agree | 4 (50) | 5 (63) | 3 (50) |
Diseases are often defined by people or organisations with financial ties to companies selling products for that disease | |||
Strongly disagree | 1 (13) | 0 | 0 |
Somewhat disagree | 2 (25) | 0 | 1 (17) |
Neither agree nor disagree | 3 (38) | 0 | 0 |
Somewhat agree | 1 (13) | 6 (75) | 5 (83) |
Strongly agree | 1 (13) | 2 (25) | 0 |
Which out of the following proves that a cancer screening test ‘saves lives’?28 (Proves/Does not prove/Don’t know) More cancers are detected in screening populations than in unscreened populations | |||
Proves | 1 (13) | 0 | 1 (17) |
Does not prove* | 7 (88) | 8 (100) | 5 (83) |
Screen-detected cancers have better 5-year survival rates than cancers detected because of symptoms | |||
Proves | 3 (38) | 1 (13) | 0 |
Does not prove* | 2 (25) | 7 (88) | 4 (67) |
Don’t know | 3 (28) | 0 | 2 (33) |
Mortality rates are lower among screened persons than unscreened persons in a randomised trial | |||
Proves* | 6 (75) | 8 (100) | 5 (83) |
Does not prove | 1 (13) | 0 | 1 (17) |
Don’t know | 1 (13) | 0 | 0 |
Which study type is considered the strongest level of evidence? (Expert opinion/RCT/SR/Case-control/Cross-sectional/ Cohort) | |||
RCT | 5 (63) | 1 (13) | 1 (17) |
Systematic review and meta-analysis* | 3 (28) | 7 (88) | 5 (83) |
In a new randomised study, people either took pill X or placebo (a sugar pill). 3% of people taking placebo died; 1% of people taking pill X died.29 Which statement is correct about how pill X changes the chance of death? | |||
Lowers by 66%* | 5 (63) | 8 (100) | 4 (67) |
Lowers by 33% | 3 (38) | 0 | 1 (17) |
Raises by 33% | 0 | 0 | 1 (17) |
Which statement is correct about how pill X changes the chance of death? | |||
2 fewer deaths per 100 people* | 8 (100) | 8 (100) | 5 (83) |
2 more deaths per 100 people | 0 | 0 | 1 (17) |
*Correct answer.
RCT, randomised controlled trial.