Table 5.
Practical recommendations made by the healthcare professionals and key stakeholders following alpha testing.
| Recommendations | Checklist ✓ Changes made × Changes not made | Reasons | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Add | Ovarian suppression can be used irrespective of egg or embryo freezing (LTH1) | ✓ | |
| Ovarian transposition as an option (KS2) | ✓ | But not in the graph | |
| Add sections about how partner feels about options (STH1) | × | ||
| Dotted line to say not all treatments are available in all clinics (STH4) | × | ||
| Question: “I am getting symptoms of menopause post CT, where can I go for help?” (STH4) | Already in | ||
| Need a separate small leaflet to say that things can affect your fertility but unfortunately in your case we can’t do anything to preserve for these reasons (LTH2) | ✓ | But not as separate leaflet | |
| Change | Despite already simplified, might still be too much for ‘average’ patient (STH4) | Tried modifying, Flesch reading age | |
| Better to not give success vs failure rates due to differences in clinics (LTH1) | × | ||
| Consider revising statistic that menopause in cancer survivors can occur 5-10 years early; p.12 (KS3) | ✓ | ||
| Ovarian suppression not new (KS2) | × | We already said ‘newer’ not ‘new’ | |
| Text: Consistency, i.e. side-effects or side effects, throughout the booklet (KS4) | ✓ | ||
| Avoid italics as it makes it harder to read (KS4) | ✓ | ||
| Some corrections regarding grammar and spelling (KS4) | ✓ | ||
| Don’t’ make it shiny paper, so that patients can write on it (STH4) | ✓ | ||
| Language issue: ‘loss of fertility’ as too dramatic? (STH3); subfertility possibly? (LTH3) | × | Too clinical | |
| Use ‘eggs’ not ‘follicles’ (LTH2, STH5) | ✓ | ||
| Graph 2, page 12, needs correcting (LTH3) | ✓ | Yes to cancer treatment, edited this graph significantly | |
| Change the axes on Table 1 (LTH5) | ✓ | ||
| Link p.24 with purple section (STH7) | × | Unclear | |
| Make the graphs and tables less academic (STH7) | ✓ | Yes, e.g. replaced chemotherapy/radiation with cancer treatment, modified language | |
| Some graphs repetitive, e.g. page 11 (STH7, STH1) | × | Not correct | |
| Don’t put ovarian suppression in dotted line (STH4) | ✓ | ||
| Questions for reflections too theoretical? (LTH3 | ✓ | Did cut down number of questions | |
| Less space for questions (STH4) | ✓ | ||
| Add: “Questions to discuss with other people you are close with, not just partner” (STH5) | ✓ | ||
| Abridged version for some? (LTH2) | × | ||
| Too long, too complex, too long-winded (LTH3; STH7) | × | We did cut down from 60 pages to 40 | |
| Break booklet up in individual sections, give out what’s appropriate? (LTH5) | × | ||
| Emphasise that it’s a workbook, not another bunch of leaflets | ✓ | ||
| Omit | All cancer background (LTH3) | × | |
| Unsure if summary tables add value (LTH6) | × | Investigated in Evaluation Phase | |
| Diagram p12 too technical, take out (STH3 | ✓ | Modified this slightly | |
| P.17: make outline stand out, bold (KS4) | ✓ | ||
| Grey boxes: ensure they are within the same margins, on same part of the pages (KS4) | ✓ | ||
| Decision pictures: Could omit, but best keep (STH1) | × | ||
| Flowcharts possibly redundant, as text says the same (LTH1) | × | ||
| Could out some space potentially (STH3) | ✓ | Yes, reduced overall length | |
| Cut questions, add extra sheet (LTH3) | ✓ | Cut some questions, no extra sheet | |
| Cut down different treatment information (LTH5) | × | ||
| Get rid of option table (STH5) | × |