Telephone Outreach to Increase Colon Cancer Screening

An Effective Practice

Description

Through this outreach program, individuals received phone calls from trained health educators to raise awareness of colon cancer. African American men and women have the highest incidence and mortality of colorectal cancer, in large part due to late stage diagnosis. This program targeted African Americans over age 52 who had not been screened for colorectal cancer recently. Participants in the program received multiple calls that provided education to improve knowledge of the risk caused by colon cancer, and to address beliefs about colon cancer screening. The calls served to motivate participants to be screened, address barriers to screening, and provide support.

Goal / Mission

The goal of this telephone outreach program was to increase colorectal cancer screening in a predominantly lower- to moderate-income African American population.

Results / Accomplishments

In a study comparing the intervention group to a control group that received mailed printed materials, intervention participants were significantly more likely to receive colorectal cancer screening in the six months following the outreach (27.0% vs. 6.1%; 95% CI = 14.3, 27.5). Compared with the control group, the intervention group was 4.4 times more likely to receive colorectal cancer screening within 6 months of entering the program.

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
Columbia University Teachers College Department of Health and Behavior Studies
Primary Contact
Charles Basch
Department of Health and Behavior Studies
Teachers College
Columbia University
New York, NY 10027
(212) 678-3983
ceb35@columbia.edu
http://www.tc.columbia.edu/hbs/
Topics
Health / Cancer
Health / Prevention & Safety
Organization(s)
Columbia University Teachers College Department of Health and Behavior Studies
Source
American Journal of Public Health
Date of publication
Dec 2006
Date of implementation
2000
Geographic Type
Urban
Location
New York, NY
For more details
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC169815...
Target Audience
Racial/Ethnic Minorities

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An Effective Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success and/or promise in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures of improvement in outcome of interest (i.e. increase in voter registration, not just delivery of voter registration drive) and/ or the outcome measure is increased or improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant.