Washington
Colorectal Cancer Awareness Campaign Is Designed to Motivate Older Adults to Talk With Their Doctors About Screening
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Public Health Problem
- In 2002, there were 2,768 new cases of colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosed in the state of Washington.
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- CRC is the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Washington and in the United States.
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- Most colorectal cancers can be prevented or detected early enough to save lives if people aged 50 years or older get screened for the disease.
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- As of 2002, only about half (53%) of Washington
residents aged 50 years or older had been screened for CRC.
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Program Example
The Washington Comprehensive Cancer Control Partnership (WCCCP) is a
statewide consortium of organizations and individuals interested in cancer
prevention and control. Participants include cancer care providers, research
centers, advocacy groups, public health agencies, professional societies, and
others. With staffing and funding support from the Washington State Department
of Health's Comprehensive Cancer Control Program, the partnership developed and
is now working to implement the Washington State Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan 2004�2008.
WCCCP has established several work groups to spearhead implementation of the
plan. One such group, the Colorectal Cancer Task Force, is working to reduce
mortality from CRC by increasing the proportion of the eligible population that
has been screened to 60% by 2008. The task force includes representatives of the
American Cancer Society, the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information
Service, the Seattle King County Health District, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer
Research Center, Group Health Cooperative, and several hospitals and cancer
survivor groups. Also partnering with the task force is the Alliance for
Reducing Cancer, Northwest (ARC NW), a collaborative team of regional cancer
prevention and control experts that is affiliated with the University of
Washington's Health Promotion Research Center.
One of the strategies that the state cancer plan identifies for achieving the
60% screening target is as follows: "Develop public education and awareness
programs to encourage people over age 50 to seek colorectal cancer screening."
In March 2005, the task force pursued this strategy by conducting a CRC
awareness campaign targeting persons aged 50 years or older in the Seattle
metropolitan area.
This month-long, mixed-media campaign, which was timed to coincide with
National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, promoted CRC screening through
posters deployed on buses, in community health clinics, and at social service
agencies, as well as through public service announcements (PSAs) broadcast on
radio and television. The campaign also featured a 1-hour interview with the
task force chair, which was broadcast statewide via four radio stations.
The public funding available for purchasing radio and television airtime was
limited to $40,000, which was provided by the state Comprehensive Cancer Control
Program under a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These
funds were matched dollar-for-dollar by participating broadcasters, yielding a
larger but still modest PSA budget of $80,000. In-kind contributions from task
force partners were used to develop the PSAs and to create and distribute
campaign posters.
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Implication and Impact
Researchers from the University of Washington and ARC NW completed a preliminary evaluation
of the campaign in June 2005. They surveyed
King County residents aged 50�75 years both before and after the March campaign to assess their exposure to and responses to the campaign. The pre- and post-campaign surveys were conducted by telephone with separate, randomly selected samples of residents. There were about 250 persons in each sample and the two groups shared similar demographic characteristics.
The results of this evaluation suggested that the campaign had produced modest increases in the proportion of residents who 1) had recently heard or seen media messages about CRC screening; 2) had discussed CRC screening with friends or health care providers; and 3) intended
to undergo CRC screening or talk with a health care provider about getting screened. The absence of any strong effects in these preliminary findings may reflect the campaign's modest budget and brief duration. Nevertheless,
the campaign did appear to have a positive
impact, and more sophisticated analyses of the results are planned to more accurately measure
this effect. The task force is also tentatively planning to repeat the campaign in March of 2006 with a somewhat larger media budget.
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Contact Information
Comprehensive Cancer Control Program
South Puget Intertribal Planning Agency
2970 SE Old Olympic Highway
Shelton,
WA 98584
(360) 426-3990 Ext. 214
Fax: (360) 427-8003
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