Clinical trial NCT01299493: Systems Intervention to Promote Colorectal Cancer (CRC) Screening
Official title: Systems Intervention to Promote Colorectal Cancer Screening/ Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Carcinoma
Keywords: carcinoma
colorectal cancer
community health centers
cluster-randomized
health behavior
Lead sponsor: Washington University School of Medicine
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
First posted: 2011-02-18
Enrollment: 490
Sex: ALL
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: SCREENING

Brief summary: Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death and one of the most commonly diagnosed malignancies. Screening is effective at reducing incidence and mortality from colorectal cancer. This study will evaluate the effectiveness of implementing systems-changes in community health centers that facilitate screening.

Detailed description: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the cancers that our community partners have identified as a priority. It is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States, and one with significant disparities in screening, stage of diagnosis, and survival. Underinsured and uninsured adults are less likely to be screened, more likely to have their cancer diagnosed at a late stage, and less likely to survive CRC. In this project we will work with "safety-net" health centers serving Medicaid and uninsured patients in St. Louis City and St. Louis County in Missouri, and in East St. Louis/St. Clair County in Illinois. Working with our Colorectal Cancer Community Partnership we planned a cluster-randomized delayed start trial to test the effectiveness of offering community health centers a "Menu" of evidence-based systems interventions for increasing rates of CRC screening. The strategies included in the Menu will be drawn from evidence-based interventions. The control condition will be usual care, but in concordance with our partners' wishes, we will offer all participating health centers access to state-of-the-art evidence-based patient education materials. The primary outcome will be CRC screening adherence as measured by self-report surveys of a random sample of health center patients. Our evaluation will also be informed by a chart audit to assess screening referral and completion, surveys of physicians and staff at intervention sites to assess implementation outcomes, and exit interviews with administration of intervention health centers to assess maintenance of the intervention strategies. We developed and will conduct our study adhering to the principles of community-based participatory research (CBPR). The specific aims are: (1) Working with community partners, we will select and refine the evidence-based intervention strategies for the trial; (2) Using a CBPR approach, we will collaborate with our partners to implement and evaluate the systems-level intervention for its effectiveness in increasing CRC screening rates. (3) Using the RE-AIM framework, we will work with our partners to evaluate implementation and maintenance of systems changes by intervention health centers and adoption of the changes by control centers. Compared to traditional clinics and healthcare providers, safety-net health centers face additional challenges in implementing evidence-based strategies for increase screening uptake; yet rigorously testing such strategies in this context is novel. Allowing health centers to select from a menu of strategies will provide a practical test of effectiveness, and will increase buy-in and representativeness of participating health centers. As a practical clinical trial with good external validity, this project has the potential for significant impact on CRC screening rates with promise for substantial impact on disparities in CRC burden. This study is responsive to community concerns about CRC and about no-intervention control groups, and is responsive to the RFA by proposing a CBPR randomized controlled trial to increase access to and utilization of CRC screening procedures.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Community health center in the Saint Louis Metropolitan Area, including Southern Illinois
* Participant in Partnership Planning Process
* Affiliated with the Washington University Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities

Exclusion Criteria:

* Primary patient population has private health insurance.
* Not in an medically underserved area.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Practice-level colon cancer screening rate
timeFrame: 12-months post baseline
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Saint Louis
country: United States
facility: Washington University School of Medicine
state: Missouri
Study officials:
affiliation: Washington University School of Medicine
name: Aimee S James, PhD, MPH
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: James AS, Richardson V, Wang JS, Proctor EK, Colditz GA. Systems intervention to promote colon cancer screening in safety net settings: protocol for a community-based participatory randomized controlled trial. Implement Sci. 2013 Jun 3;8:58. doi: 10.1186/1748-5908-8-58.