Effectiveness of a Digital Decision Aid for Nutrition Support in Women with Gynaecological Cancer: A Comparative Study

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the effects of an animated Patient Decision Aid (PtDA) about dietary choices on decisional conflict and decision regret. A prospective, observational, two-group comparative effectiveness study was conducted with patients (n = 90) from a southern Taiwan oncology inpatient unit. Data included the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST), laboratory results, 16-item Decisional Conflict Scale (sf-DCS), and 5-item Decision Regret Scale (DRSc). Data were collected at admission (T0), after the first-cycle of chemotherapy but before discharge (T1), and after the six-cycle chemotherapy protocol (T2) (around 3 months). Group A received standardized nutrition education and a printed brochure, while Group B watched a 10-minute information video during a one-on-one inpatient consultation and engaged in a values clarification exercise between T0 and T1. The percentage of women with a MUST score ≧1 in Group A sharply increased over time, but not in Group B. Decision aid usage significantly increased patients’ hemoglobin and lymphocyte values over time (p < 0.05). The digital PtDA contributed to less decisional conflict and decision regret in at-risk patients and improved their nutritional well-being. Decision-aids help patients make healthcare decisions in line with their values, and are sustainable for use by busy clinicians.

Acknowledgments

We thank the participants for dedicating their time and attention to this research. Thanks also goes to the administrators of the hospital and professional staff (such as gynecological physicians, dietitians, and nursing staff) who provided effective technical and coordination support in the PtDA development.

Author Contributions

HCK and YT conceived and designed the study. YT analyzed the data, and wrote the draft paper; HCK, WYL, and HCH performed the data acquisitions and data storage; DKC reviewed the paper and contributed suggestions for improvement. All authors read and approved the final version of the paper.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

All procedures involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee (KSVGH21-CT1-01) and the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments. Informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data Availability Statement

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available through the corresponding author. Additionally, the raw data supporting the findings of this study can be found at the following URL: [https://reurl.cc/NyD80e].

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.