Currently submitted to: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Aug 31, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: Sep 1, 2026 - Oct 27, 2026
(currently open for review)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Facilitating Patient–Provider Conversations About Health Information Patients Encounter Outside the Clinical Office, Including Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Protocol for a Study Testing a Multilevel Intervention.
ABSTRACT
Background:
Patients with cancer increasingly seek information outside clinical offices, including information about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). However, this also exposes them to misleading content. About 20%–77% of patients make decisions based on external information about CAM without consulting their providers. The current absence of such conversations is a missed opportunity for open, positive information exchange and for establishing trusting patient-provider relationships, both of which are fundamental to informed decision-making, treatment engagement, and improved patient outcomes.
Objective:
We report the protocol for a study evaluating the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a multilevel intervention for oncology providers and patients newly diagnosed with breast or prostate cancer. The intervention has two components. The first is a patient-facing question prompt list (CAM-QPL) that helps patients discuss the information they find outside the clinical office, including information about CAM. The second is a provider-facing communication workshop.
Methods:
We report the protocol for a study evaluating the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a multilevel intervention for oncology providers and patients newly diagnosed with breast or prostate cancer. The intervention has two components. The first is a patient-facing question prompt list (CAM-QPL) that helps patients discuss the information they find outside the clinical office, including information about CAM. The second is a provider-facing communication workshop.
Results:
We plan to enroll 132 patients and at least 20 providers. Currently, 19 providers have consented to study participation and completed the workshop, with 32 patients having completed the follow-up survey.
Conclusions:
This protocol describes the randomized evaluation of the feasibility of a theory-grounded, multilevel intervention designed specifically to facilitate patient–provider conversations about the information patients encounter outside the clinical office, including CAM and cancer misinformation. Findings will inform a future randomized controlled study, as well as provide feedback for future intervention refinement. Clinical Trial: NAcancer misinformation; complementary and alternative medicine; patient–provider communication; informed decision-making; question prompt list; health information seeking; theory of planned behavior; feasibility study
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