Research Project
7499073
Vulnerable populations experience a greater burden of disease, are less informed about diagnosis and[unreadable] treatment, and are less likely to be satisfied with communication with their healthcare providers. Patients[unreadable] with limited economic resources, low literacy skills or racial/ethnic minority status are particularly vulnerable[unreadable] to receiving sub-optimal care over time. These patients may experience poorer health outcomes due to[unreadable] disparities in care, special needs or barriers to care. Improving communication in healthcare settings may[unreadable] lead to better adherence to recommended treatment, higher quality of care, higher satisfaction with care[unreadable] and better health outcomes. The use of new health information technologies is a recommended strategy for[unreadable] improving access to health information and for enhancing the quality of communication in healthcare[unreadable] delivery. The overall objective of the proposed demonstration project is to test whether a low-literacy friendly,[unreadable] multimedia information and assessment system used in daily clinical practice enhances patient-centered[unreadable] care and improves patient outcomes. The intervention will combine two existing assessment and[unreadable] education systems to provide a multimedia information technology (IT) resource: CancerHelp-Talking[unreadable] Touchscreen (TT). This user-friendly IT resource will deliver comprehensive, state-of-the-science patient[unreadable] education information, allow patients to ?personalize? the information at each session, enable low literacy[unreadable] patients to self-administer patient-reported outcomes questionnaires, allow patients to create an individually[unreadable] tailored list of needs and concerns to share with their healthcare providers, and assist patients in preparing[unreadable] for the transition between active cancer treatment and follow-up care. A prospective randomized trial of 200[unreadable] patients with breast or colorectal cancer will be conducted at three ambulatory cancer care centers in[unreadable] Chicago. Patients will be randomized to CancerHelp-TT or control/standard education and followed for a[unreadable] maximum of nine months (three to six months of treatment and three months of follow-up). The proposed[unreadable] study will: 1) test whether use of CancerHelp-TT improves satisfaction with healthcare communication,[unreadable] knowledge of cancer and treatment, self-efficacy, adherence to recommended treatment and health-related[unreadable] quality of life (HRQL) during cancer treatment; 2) evaluate the relationships between patient characteristics,[unreadable] resources, needs, health behaviors and health outcomes using the Behavioral Model for Vulnerable[unreadable] Populations; and 3) assess whether use of CancerHelp-TT improves adherence to recommended follow-up[unreadable] care and HRQL during the early post-treatment surveillance period. The CancerHelp-TT intervention is a[unreadable] fully exportable, self-contained IT system that can be implemented in any cancer care center with minimal[unreadable] additional resources. It can also be adapted for other health conditions. This novel multimedia IT system[unreadable] may be especially helpful in addressing disparities in cancer care for vulnerable populations.
