Testing a Behavioural Approach to Improving Cancer Screening Rates
1 other identifier
interventional
5,525
1 country
1
Brief Summary
Family doctors can play a critical role in successfully arranging cancer screening tests to occur, especially if they know which patients are due for these tests. However, they don't always interact with or take advantage of registry data to this end. For example, in Ontario, the Screening Activity Report provides exactly this information to family doctors, helping them identify their patients who are overdue for screening. Unfortunately, less than half of family doctors regularly use the Screening Activity Report even though they get monthly email reminders. One possible reason is that the reminders they receive are not designed to compel action. They are easy for family doctors to miss or dismiss. This study will compare multiple different ways of designing the reminders. The different versions of the email are tested in a 2\^3 factorial trial testing three behaviour change techniques to see which ones will lead to more family physicians interacting with the Screening Activity Report and at increasing the number of patients that get all the appropriate screening tests for cervical, breast, and/or colon cancer.
Trial Health
Trial Health Score
Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach
participants targeted
Target at P75+ for not_applicable
Started May 2017
Shorter than P25 for not_applicable
1 active site
Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.
Trial Relationships
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Study Timeline
Key milestones and dates
First Submitted
Initial submission to the registry
April 18, 2017
CompletedFirst Posted
Study publicly available on registry
April 21, 2017
CompletedStudy Start
First participant enrolled
May 10, 2017
CompletedPrimary Completion
Last participant's last visit for primary outcome
September 30, 2017
CompletedStudy Completion
Last participant's last visit for all outcomes
September 30, 2017
CompletedMarch 22, 2018
March 1, 2018
5 months
April 18, 2017
March 21, 2018
Conditions
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcomes (1)
SAR access
The primary outcome will be whether eligible family physicians access the SAR during the 4 months of the trial (Yes/No)
4 months
Secondary Outcomes (2)
SAR access rate
4 months
Adherence to screening guidelines for breast, colon, and cervical cancer in patients of eligible PCPs
4 months
Other Outcomes (1)
Process Measures: contact made with Cancer Care Ontario
4 months
Study Arms (8)
Email #1: FULLY TURNED OFF
NO INTERVENTIONNo behavioural change techniques (BCTs) 'turned on' in the email. The email would contain only standardized content.
Email #2: ANTICIPATED REGRET
EXPERIMENTALAnticipated regret content + standardized content
Email #3: MATERIAL INCENTIVE
EXPERIMENTALMaterial incentive content + standardized content
Email #4: PROBLEM SOLVING
EXPERIMENTALProblem solving content + standardized content
Email #5: REGRET + INCENTIVE
EXPERIMENTALAnticipated regret content + Material incentive content + standardized content
Email #6: REGRET + PROBLEM SOLVING
EXPERIMENTALAnticipated regret content + Problem solving content + standardized content
Email #7: INCENTIVE + PROBLEM SOLVING
EXPERIMENTALMaterial incentive content + Problem solving content + standardized content
Email #8: ALL BCTs
EXPERIMENTALAnticipated regret content + Material incentive content + Problem solving content + standardized content
Interventions
Induce awareness of future regret about the unwanted behaviour
Inform that valued objects will be delivered if and only if that has been progress in performing the desired behaviours
Analyze or prompt the person to factors that influence the behaviour and select strategies that help overcome barriers
Eligibility Criteria
Contact the study team to discuss eligibility requirements. They can help determine if this study is right for you.
Sponsors & Collaborators
- Women's College Hospitallead
- Ontario Institute for Cancer Researchcollaborator
- Cancer Care Ontariocollaborator
- Ottawa Hospital Research Institutecollaborator
- Laval Universitycollaborator
Study Sites (1)
Cancer Care Ontario
Toronto, Ontario, M5G 2L7, Canada
Related Publications (1)
Vaisson G, Witteman HO, Bouck Z, Bravo CA, Desveaux L, Llovet D, Presseau J, Saragosa M, Taljaard M, Umar S, Grimshaw JM, Tinmouth J, Ivers NM. Testing Behavior Change Techniques to Encourage Primary Care Physicians to Access Cancer Screening Audit and Feedback Reports: Protocol for a Factorial Randomized Experiment of Email Content. JMIR Res Protoc. 2018 Feb 16;7(2):e11. doi: 10.2196/resprot.9090.
PMID: 29453190DERIVED
Related Links
Study Officials
- PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Noah Ivers, MD, PhD
Women's College Hospital
Study Design
- Study Type
- interventional
- Phase
- not applicable
- Allocation
- RANDOMIZED
- Masking
- DOUBLE
- Who Masked
- INVESTIGATOR, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
- Masking Details
- The randomization schedule will be generated by a statistician on study IDs. The allocation sequence is applied simultaneously to the full set of eligible family physicians so that each is assigned to one of eight experimental conditions. The assignment to study conditions will be concealed from investigators. The data collection system used for the 4 month outcome assessment will be standardized across all study conditions and conducted by personnel at CCO not already involved in the study trial. No un-blinding is planned or permitted.
- Purpose
- HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
- Intervention Model
- FACTORIAL
- Sponsor Type
- OTHER
- Responsible Party
- PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
- PI Title
- MD PhD
Study Record Dates
First Submitted
April 18, 2017
First Posted
April 21, 2017
Study Start
May 10, 2017
Primary Completion
September 30, 2017
Study Completion
September 30, 2017
Last Updated
March 22, 2018
Record last verified: 2018-03
Data Sharing
- IPD Sharing
- Will not share