Firefighters Preventing Cancer Online Training Program

NCT05745246 | Active Not Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: 1028192
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 179
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this two-arm, Cluster Randomized Trial is to evaluate an e-health training program for volunteer firefighters to reduce their risk of exposures to carcinogens and to increase their understanding and intentions of behavior towards cancer prevention. One arm will receive an online e-health intervention for six months and the other arm will be considered as a waitlist control group which will be placed on a waitlist and receive the online treatment program some months later. The project aims to evaluate the firefighters by measurement of current behavior, perceived importance, future behavioral intentions and perceived barriers for implementing decontamination behaviors at baseline, after the intervention and after 3-month follow-up before and after the intervention. The intervention consists of three components:

1. 1.a novel health information strategy, 90SecondFire Cancer health letters
2. 2.a brief on-line course
3. 3.a problem-solving asynchronous bulletin board to mobilize existing knowledge

Conditions

Cancer Prevention

Keywords

Firefighter; Cancer; Decontamination; Exposure

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Volunteer Firefighters' Intention to engage in reducing exposure and undertaking decontamination behaviour

  In order to measure the changes in firefighter's intention during the study, the data will be collected by an online survey: Firefighter Exposure to Carcinogens Scale. The dimensions will be rated on a Likert scale. min :0 Max 4 ; The higher score does not mean a better outcome.

  Baseline, After 6 month intervention and 3-month follow-up

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Volunteer Firefighters' practice and perceived importance towards reducing exposure and undertaking decontamination behavior for cancer prevention

  Baseline, After 6 month intervention and 3-month follow-up

• Volunteer firefighters' and their departments' perceived barriers in the development of reducing exposure and undertaking decontamination behaviors

  Baseline, After 6 month intervention and 3-month follow-up

• Comparing and detecting any association between the regular volunteer firefighters and the management team towards cancer prevention

  Baseline, After 6 month intervention and 3-month follow-up

• Comparing characteristics of different volunteer Departments (Clusters) such as size and location of Department in terms of their future intention, current practice and perceived importance towards cancer prevention

  Baseline, After 6 month intervention and 3-month follow-up

Study Arms (2)

Intervention Group

EXPERIMENTAL

This arm will receive the online e-health intervention for six months. The intervention consists of three sections: 1. a novel health information strategy, 90SecondFire Cancer health letters 2. a brief on-line course 3. a problem-solving asynchronous bulletin board to mobilize existing knowledge

Behavioral: e-health training program

waitlist control group

NO INTERVENTION

This group will be placed on a waitlist and will receive the online treatment program after six months.

Interventions

e-health training program BEHAVIORAL

1. Health letters, 44 issues of 90SecondFire Cancer health letters delivered twice a week during six months to firefighters by text or email 2. A problem-solving asynchronous chat room which encourages mutual support and exchange of ideas via a closed asynchronous bulletin board for peer-to-peer support 3. A brief 45-minute pre-recorded online course; it is intended as a summative exercise rather than providing new information.

Intervention Group

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Departments will be screened to meet the following criteria
• Be a Volunteer Department
• Be located in Canada
• Consent to participate in the study via the Chief or delegate
• Participant in the CRT study must meet all the following criteria to be eligible to proceed with the study:
• Be a volunteer firefighter
• Working for an all-volunteer fire department that has joined the study
• Live in Canada
• Has access to internet
• Be able to read, write and understand English or French
• Consent to participate in the study

You may not qualify if:

• Not a volunteer Department in other words to be a composite department with some volunteers and some career fire fighters or a department that has not joined the study
• Not located in Canada
• Not Consent to be in the study via the Chief or delegate
• Any of the following criteria will exclude individuals from proceeding to consent:
• NOT a volunteer firefighter
• Working for a composite department with some volunteers and some career fire fighters or a department that has not joined the study
• Does NOT live in Canada
• Does not have access to internet
• Is NOT able to read, write and understand English or French
• Does NOT consent to participate in the study

Sponsors & Collaborators

• IWK Health Centre: lead
• Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs: collaborator
• Laval University: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

IWK Health Centre

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Neoplasms

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: INVESTIGATOR, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Masking Details: Since this study is a Cluster Randomized Trial (CRT), first, Departments will be recruited and randomized to the treatment arm or the control arm, with a 1:1 allocation ratio stratified by region. The randomization sequence will be generated by a trained person that is not related to the study participants in any way. The investigators and study staff will be blinded to the randomization sequence until the end of the study. Participant randomization will be performed in REDCap. REDCap maintains an automated audit trail which includes the assigned study identification number, treatment allocation, and date and time of the allocation assignment. Once a department is recruited and assigned to a study group, all the members in that department will be assigned to the same group.
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principle Investigator

Model Details: This study is a two-arm, feasibility, Cluster Randomized Trial (CRT).

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 16, 2023
• First Posted: February 27, 2023
• Study Start: February 13, 2023
• Primary Completion: October 30, 2024
• Study Completion: June 30, 2025
• Last Updated: January 22, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-01

Locations

CA (1)