 In 2003, under IRB approval, we conducted a study with 2 goals: 1 to encourage patients to talk to their doctor about prostate cancer screening, and 2 to learn more about the impact of low health literacy on these conversations. To promote conversation, we used two handouts, given to patients in the waiting room before they saw the doctor. The first was a patient education handout about prostate cancer screening, written in very simple terms with useful illustrations. The second was a handout that simply encouraged patients to talk to their doctor about prostate cancer. Patients got one of the two handouts, or a nutritional handout that served as a control. After they saw their doctor, a research assistant briefly interviewed the patient to find out whether or not prostate cancer screening was discussed. We also measured the patients health literacy skills, and asked a few other questions about their decision to get screened for prostate cancer. 