Long-term effectiveness of an online decision aid for female cancer patients regarding fertility preservation: Knowledge, attitude, and decisional regret.

Introduction: The decision, whether to undergo fertility preservation or not is highly demanding for cancer patients. Decision aids may act as an additional source of support. So far, only a limited number of decision aids regarding fertility preservation for female cancer patients exist and have been evaluated systematically.

Randomized controlled trial on the effect of an online decision aid for young female cancer patients regarding fertility preservation.

Study Question: Does the use of an online decision aid (DA) about fertility preservation (FP), in addition to standard counselling by a specialist in reproductive medicine, reduce decisional conflict compared to standard counselling alone?

Summary Answer: Female cancer patients who could make use of the online DA had a significantly lower short-term decisional conflict score.

What Is Known Already: Nowadays, female cancer patients have several options for preserving fertility, but having to decide whether to opt for FP within a short time frame after cancer diagnosis and before the start of treatment is challenging. According to previous studies focussing mainly on breast cancer patients, decisional conflict among these women is high, and they have expressed the need for additional support.

Fertility Preservation in Young Female Cancer Patients: Development and Pilot Testing of an Online Decision Aid.

Purpose: Impairment of fertility is a common sequela of successful cancer treatment. Therefore, fertility preservation (FP) should be discussed with all young cancer patients. Decisions about FP are challenging.