BMJ 2002;325:725-726 ( 5 October )

Editorials

Prostate specific antigen testing for prostate cancer

Engaging with the public may address their concerns and produce workable solutions

Papers pp 737, 740 Education and debate p 766

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Medical screening is an example of "institutionalisation of risk."1 In practice this often entails imperfect tests, sometimes inappropriately presented to the public,2 that discover diseases we do not fully understand and cannot adequately treat. Pressures for the establishment of national screening programmes are widespread, but we are now seeing countries seeking to learn from others' experiences or from their own established national programmes. 3 4 But attempts to resist public pressures for new screening programmes may be mistrusted as attempts to save money, betray the science, or fool the public, or as sex discrimination. Traditionally, the response to such apparent public ignorance or irrationality has been to argue that the public needs to be educated and people's views corrected to align more correctly with what policy makers and scientists want them to believe. Perhaps what is needed now is not so much public understanding of science as understanding of the public by . . . [Full text of this article]
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Why men with prostate cancer want wider access to prostate specific antigen testing: qualitative study
Alison Chapple, Sue Ziebland, Sasha Shepperd, Rachel Miller, Andrew Herxheimer, and Ann McPherson
BMJ 2002 325: 737. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Natural experiment examining impact of aggressive screening and treatment on prostate cancer mortality in two fixed cohorts from Seattle area and Connecticut
Grace Lu-Yao, Peter C Albertsen, Janet L Stanford, Therese A Stukel, Elizabeth S Walker-Corkery, and Michael J Barry
BMJ 2002 325: 740. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Quality improvement report: Improving design and conduct of randomised trials by embedding them in qualitative research: ProtecT (prostate testing for cancer and treatment) study • Commentary: presenting unbiased information to patients can be difficult
Jenny Donovan, Nicola Mills, Monica Smith, Lucy Brindle, Ann Jacoby, Tim Peters, Stephen Frankel, David Neal, Freddie Hamdy, and Paul Little
BMJ 2002 325: 766-770. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ