 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Eugene J Lengerich, VMD, MS1, Ann J Ward, MS2, Sylvia Fagan, MS2, and Gregory Fletcher, BS2. (1) Health Evaluation Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, 600 Centerview Drive, PO Box 855, Hershey, PA 17033, 717 531 7178, elengerich@psu.edu, (2) Food Science, Pennsylvania State University, 111 Borland Lab, University Park, PA 16802
Background. As part of NCI’s Special Populations Networks, the northern region of the Appalachia Cancer Network (nACN) works with 13 county-based coalitions in New York and Pennsylvania to facilitate community change and conduct applied participatory research in cancer prevention and control. Accurate and timely information on coalition membership, activities, processes, and community impact is necessary for effective project management and evaluation.
Methods. To provide useful information on coalition activities, nACN modified a conceptual framework originally developed for community-based, cardiovascular risk programs. In addition, historical information from nACN coalition activity was used to tailor current response categories. To facilitate access and utilization by coalitions, the application was designed for secure web access over the Internet with any browser. Eight independent tools were developed for reporting thematic coalition information.
Results. During the first 6 months of database operation, nACN coalitions completed 104 community interventions with over 500,000 persons (range 1-28,000). Breast cancer was the primary focus for 70 of the interventions; 34 (48.6%) of which were evaluated.
Conclusions. The nACN information system has demonstrated efficacy and is currently used to report coalition partnership and intervention activity among medically underserved Appalachian communities in Pennsylvania and New York. Additionally, for the first time, in April 2003, the system will be used to evaluate a participatory research protocol intended to increase the effectiveness of a national colorectal cancer education program through local coalition activity. Cancer coalitions in other states and locations will learn from the experience and information of nACN coalitions.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Cancer Prevention, Information Systems
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.