Facilitators and Barriers to Cancer Screening: Stakeholder Perspectives on Implementation

Purpose

The rate of screening for colorectal cancer (CRC) in the U.S. remains low (under 65%), meaning that thousands of people die of colorectal cancer unnecessarily. Colorectal cancer screening tests range from more invasive and very sensitive for polyps and cancer (colonoscopy) to less invasive and less sensitive (e.g., fecal immunochemical testing (FIT)). Screening rates go up when patients consider all these tests, not just colonoscopy. Informing patients about their options for CRC screening could produce higher quality decisions, improve the match between patient preferences and tests performed, and increase uptake of CRC screening. Decision aids (DAs) are a promising tool for accomplishing this goal. Also, precision CRC prevention - providing information about an individual's specific risk for CRC - has great promise to increase uptake and improve decision making. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic is causing severe challenges to providing CRC screening and other prevention services. Health systems are trying to adapt, but these efforts have only begun and are poorly understood. Moreover, patient perceptions of disease risk and risk from COVID-19 are unknown.

Condition

  • Colorectal Cancer Screening

Eligibility

Eligible Ages
Over 18 Years
Eligible Genders
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No

Inclusion Criteria

Health system participants will be eligible if: - they are employed by one of the study team's partner healthcare systems. Patient participants will be eligible if: - they have had a primary care visit during the past 24 months - they have completed cancer screening during the past 5 years prior to 2020 for breast, cervical or lung cancer as noted in the electronic health record (EHR) - age 50 years or older - speaks English - accessible by phone.

Exclusion Criteria

Patients will be excluded if: - they did not complete any cancer screening for breast, colon, cervical, or lung cancer during the past 5 years prior to 2020 - did not complete a primary care visit at a partner healthcare system during the past 2 years.

Study Design

Phase
Study Type
Observational
Observational Model
Other
Time Perspective
Other

Arm Groups

ArmDescriptionAssigned Intervention
Healthcare system leadership, providers, and staff Leadership, providers, and staff at the study team's affiliated health systems.
  • Other: Semi-structured interviews-Health system
    The interview guide will consist of questions to elicit thoughts from health system leadership, providers, and staff about implementing decision aids, provider notifications, and cancer risk assessments in their health center or healthcare system. The questions may be specific to colorectal cancer screening or more generally about other cancer screenings. The investigators may also ask questions about cancer screening initiatives their health center or healthcare system engaged in during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Patients receiving primary care at the study team's affiliated health systems Patients who had a least one primary care visit during the past 24 months at the study team's affiliated health care systems.
  • Other: Semi-structured interviews-Patients
    The interview guide will consist of questions to elicit the patients thoughts about getting preventive healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic, including perception of risk, barriers to getting healthcare, and information needed for decision making.

Recruiting Locations

Indiana University
Indianapolis, Indiana 462020
Contact:
Karen K Schmidt, MSN
317-278-4049
schmidtk@iu.edu

More Details

NCT ID
NCT04683744
Status
Unknown status
Sponsor
Indiana University

Detailed Description

The study team will engage with the leadership, staff, and providers in the study team's partner healthcare systems, to identify facilitators and barriers to implementing patient decision aids and provider notifications as well as cancer risk assessment tools, for colorectal cancer screening, and for other evidence-based cancer screening during the COVID pandemic and, potentially, after the conclusion of the pandemic. At the conclusion of the study, the investigators will have extensive information regarding how best to provide decision aids through an electronic health record (EHR) portal, with or without personalized information, and to deliver provider notifications, which can guide broader implementation. The study will involve interviews with staff and providers at the study team's partner healthcare systems to identify facilitators and barriers to implementing decision aids and provider notifications for colorectal cancer screening. Also, the investigators will interview patients to identify perceptions of prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic including risk perception and barriers to screening, perceptions of risk from both the pandemic and disease, and patient cancer screening and risk prevention behaviors engaged in or postponed during the pandemic and patient rationales for their decisions. This part of the study will suggest potentially promising approaches for providing prevention and disease management during the COVID-19 pandemic.