The State of the Science: Informing choices across the cancer journey with public health mechanisms and decision processes

Abstract

Health decisions involve sharing information and making choices—even if the choice is to leave the decision to others. The way that information is delivered and understood by consumers across their cancer journey in turn influences the health decisions they take. A public health approach to the cancer journey considers the information needs of individuals and the structures and systems that facilitate the provision of credible and timely information. This paper examines emerging research that takes a public health approach to promote information-sharing and health decisions, identifies information-sharing mechanisms used by providers to facilitate shared decisions and evaluates decision support processes designed to improve information-sharing and self-care events. Evidence is presented to guide future research directions.