Dissemination of Cervical Cancer Screening to Primary Care Physicians in Underserved Communities

Phase 4

Terminated

• Conditions: Cervical Cancer
• Interventions: Behavioral: Academic Detailing

• Registration Number: NCT00629993
• Lead Sponsor: Columbia University

Brief Summary

Primary care physicians have an important role to play in the delivery of cancer prevention and detection services to patients. Face-to-face counseling of physicians, called academic detailing, involves a brief and focused intervention, modeled on the practices of pharmaceutical companies. This type of intervention may increase physicians' attention to preventive opportunities and increase their screening behaviors.

Detailed Description

The specific aims of this proposal are:

1. To test the hypothesis that an intervention, multi-component academic detailing, will increase the rate of physician cervical cancer screening at 3- and 6-months post-randomization, compared to the rate observed in a service-as-usual control.

2. To develop models predicting which physician offices are most and least likely to adopt the intervention, and to generate hypotheses about tailoring the dissemination of cervical cancer screening guidelines to different physician subgroups.

3. To conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis comparing the incremental societal costs and effects (in lives saved, life-years saved, and quality-of-life-years saved) of the cervical cancer intervention implemented in physicians' offices.

The long-term goal of this project therefore is to reduce cervical cancer risks among ethnic and racial minorities, by influencing the screening behaviors of their primary care physicians.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2004-01
• Primary Completion: 2006-08
• Study First Submitted: 2008-02-26
• Study First Submitted QC: 2008-03-05
• Study First Posted: 2008-03-06
• Study Completion: 2010-08
• Status Verified: 2011-02
• Last Update Submitted: 2011-02-28
• Last Update Posted: 2011-03-01

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: TERMINATED
• Sex: Female
• Target Recruitment: 282

Inclusion Criteria

• Charts of female patients age 18-85 with at least one visit to the primary care provider over the last two years will be reviewed

Exclusion Criteria

• Exclusion criteria will include: diagnosis of cancer other than non-melanotic skin cancer and removal of the uterus.

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Multi-component Academic Detailing	Academic Detailing	Multi-component, academic detailing regarding ACS guidelines on cervical cancer screening approaches. Includes an interactive, digitized CD-ROM, focused on the discussion of risks and benefits, screening options or alternatives, values clarification, and mutual decision-making, alongside patient education materials designed for low literacy patients.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Number of asymptomatic female patients age 18-85 who receive or are referred for a recto-pelvic bimanual examination with the collection of the Pap smear (per ACS guidelines); collected via medical chart review	12-month followup

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Physician knowledge, attitudes and beliefs toward cervical cancer prevention, screening, and treatment	12-month followup

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Columbia University; 🇺🇸 New York, New York, United States