203112 Proximal impact of the Pennsylvania Cancer Education Network on knowledge, attitudes, and intention to screen

Wednesday, November 11, 2009: 10:45 AM

Lisa Ulmer, MSW, ScD , Department of Community Health and Prevention, School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
Zekarias Berhane, PhD , School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
Kathleen Zitka , Pennsylvania Department of Health, Harrisburg, PA
Charlotte Greenawalt , Pennsylvania Department of Health, Harrisburg, PA
Jamiliyah Gilliam , Drexel University School of Public Health, Philadelphia, PA
Background: The World Cancer Report urges nations to act to address the alarming increase in global cancer rates. It is estimated that risk factor reduction and appropriate screening could prevent as many as one third of cancers worldwide.

Goals and Objectives: The Pennsylvania Cancer Education Network (PCEN) is a public-academic participatory partnership that translates the science of cancer prevention to statewide practice. This presentation investigates the results of PCEN's cancer education sessions on proximal outcomes.

Methods: This analysis is based on data collected from adults participating in statewide cancer education sessions for four cancers, skin, colorectal, prostate, and ovarian from 4/1/2008 – 6/30/2008. Using a cross-sectional pretest-posttest design, we evaluated participants' knowledge, attitudes, and intention to screen, before and after a 45 minute community-based group health education session that builds trust, discusses health information, and encourages action. The cohort included 4049 skin cancer education participants, 2770 colorectal cancer education participants, 1295 prostate cancer education participants, and 1970 ovarian cancer education participants.

Results: Analyses show that PCEN cancer education had a significant proximal impact on subjects' knowledge score (p < 0.001), worry that screening is embarrassing or painful (p < 0.001), and intention to screen (p < 0.001), for all four cancer education sessions.

Conclusions: Results highlight the feasibility and success of a public-academic participatory partnership to translate the science of cancer prevention to statewide practice, suggesting that similar partnerships may contribute to chronic disease prevention and health promotion in other states.

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe strategies for translating the science of cancer prevention to statewide practice. 2. Describe methods for monitoring and evaluating statewide cancer education. 3. Examine the proximal impact of statewide cancer education. 4. Apply principles of translation and evaluation to other practice settings.

Keywords: Cancer Prevention, Partnerships

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: MSW, ScD. Professor and Chair, Department of Community Health and Prevention, Drexel University School of Public Health. Experience in developing, implementing, and evaluating statewide chronic disease prevention involving public-academic partnerships and community coalitions.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Translation of Research into Practice and Policy Session 1
See more of: Cancer Forum