15250-m-cuypers

158 Chapter 8 2.4 Statistical analyses To determine DA implementation levels per hospital, the number of patients who received a DA within the trial was compared to the absolute number of Pca patients per hospital. For continuous questionnaire data, descriptive statistics were presented as means with standard deviations (SD). Categorical data were presented as frequencies with percentages. Differences between both study arms were tested with independent sample t-tests for continuous data and chi-square tests for categorical data. Some questions allowedmore than one answer and some health care providers did not answer all questions, therefore not all n ’s always added up to the same number. All statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS version 22.0 (Statistical Package for Social Sciences, Chicago, IL, USA), and p -values <.05 were considered statistically significant. 3. RESULTS Response rate was 58%, equally distributed between both arms (30/33). Responses were obtained from health care providers out of all participation hospitals, with a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 7 responders from the same hospital. Differences in gender and profession between both arms were not statistically significant (Table 1). 3.1 Intervention groups’ evaluation of DA use During the trial period 368 patients received a DAs in the intervention arm, ranging from 1 to 83 patients per hospital. Most respondents (24/29) provided DAs to patients themselves. At the moment of filling out the questionnaire, almost half the health care providers had offered the DA to a maximum of ten patients (n=15), and a third offered the DA to more than ten patients (n=10). Thirty-three reasons were reported for not offering a DA, most often because of patient characteristics (patient had already decided, refused the DA or was cognitively impaired; mentioned 15 times) or because it was forgotten by health care providers (mentioned 5 times). Most urologists (10/14) felt they were the most appropriate care provider to deliver the DA to patients, while more than half of the oncology nurses (7/12) felt equally or even more suitable for delivering the DA to patients. Health care providers supported the DA content and working procedures; the DA was considered practical in use, the content was trusted, and DA use was not perceived to be burdensome to patients (Table 2). Mean scores on statements about easier patient- clinician conversations, clearly noticeable DA effects, and increased patient satisfaction were close to the scale midpoints (Table 2). Further, health care providers mainly indicated the DA contributed to reaching information goals (comparing treatments