Can Women Facilitate Men's Prostate Cancer Screening Informed Decision-Making? The M-PACT Trial.

The M-PACT study compared an all-male with a mixed-sex intervention to increase informed decision-making for prostate cancer screening among African-American men in church settings. We recruited 262 men in 18 churches randomized to the two intervention approaches. Trained and certified lay peer community health advisors in each church led a series of four men's health workshops on informed decision-making for prostate cancer screening.

A Randomized Controlled Study Comparing the National Cancer Institute's Original and Revised Consent Form Templates.

Since 1998, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has mandated that researchers use its consent form template in developing consent forms for their NCI-funded clinical trials. The template was substantially revised in 2013 to aid in the development of simpler, more concise consent forms. The NCI conducted a randomized controlled trial with cancer survivors (N = 153) to assess the revised template's effect on individuals' knowledge, satisfaction, clarity, and likelihood of joining a trial in the future.

Raising Public Awareness of Clinical Trials: Development of Messages for a National Health Communication Campaign.

Clinical trials are essential for developing new and effective treatments and improving patient quality of life; however, many trials cannot answer their primary research questions because they fall short of their recruitment goals. This article reports the results of formative research conducted in two populations, the public and primary care physicians, to identify messages that may raise awareness and increase interest in clinical trials and be used in a national communication campaign. Results suggested that participants were primarily motivated to participate in clinical trials out of a self-interest to help themselves first.

Feasibility and acceptability of SMS text messaging in a prostate cancer educational intervention for African American men.

African Americans' greater access to mobile phones makes short messaging service technology a promising complement to health promotion interventions. Short messaging service text messages were added to the Men's Prostate Awareness Church Training project, a men's health intervention for African American men. We report on the feasibility and acceptability of the use of short messaging service text messages in the intervention.

Informed Decision-Making and Satisfaction with a Church-Based Men's Health Workshop Series for African-American Men: Men-Only vs. Mixed-Gender Format.

Prostate cancer incidence and mortality are highest among African-American men, and coupled with the controversy around routine prostate cancer screening, reaching African-American men with interventions to help them make an informed decision about whether or not to be screened is critical. This study compares two approaches to delivering a church-based peer community health advisor intervention consisting of a series of four men's health workshops on informed decision-making for prostate cancer screening. In the men-only group, male community health advisors teach group workshops consisting only of men.

Development of the men's prostate awareness church training: church-based workshops for African American men.

This article describes the development of a spiritually based intervention to increase informed decision making for prostate cancer screening through African American churches. The intervention used spiritually themed health messages, incorporated women as supportive health partners, and included a health information technology component. The Men's Prostate Awareness Church Training Project followed a community-based participatory research process to develop educational materials, and training for 40 community health advisors to implement the 4-part prostate health workshop series that will be implemented in 20 churches.

Primary care physicians' cancer screening recommendation practices and perceptions of cancer risk of Asian Americans.

Asian Americans experience disproportionate incidence and mortality rates of certain cancers, compared to other racial/ethnic groups. Primary care physicians are a critical source for cancer screening recommendations and play a significant role in increasing cancer screening of their patients. This study assessed primary care physicians' perceptions of cancer risk in Asians and screening recommendation practices.

Assessing the need for a standardized cancer HUman Biobank (caHUB): findings from a national survey with cancer researchers.

Background: Before developing a national standardized cancer HUman Biobank (caHUB), the National Cancer Institute sought feedback from the cancer research community.

Methods: NCI conducted an online survey (N = 727) about current biospecimen needs and reactions to creating a national resource cancer researchers and others.

Results: Most (56%) participants obtained biospecimens within their own institutions, and 63% wanted more information about their biospecimens.

Assessing the impact of user-centered research on a clinical trial eHealth tool via counterbalanced research design.

Objective: Informatics applications have the potential to improve participation in clinical trials, but their design must be based on user-centered research. This research used a fully counterbalanced experimental design to investigate the effect of changes made to the original version of a website, http://BreastCancerTrials.org/, and confirm that the revised version addressed and reinforced patients' needs and expectations.

Self-medication with antibiotics for the treatment of menstrual symptoms in Southwest Nigeria: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Self-medication with antibiotics is an important factor contributing to the development of bacterial antibiotic resistance. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of self-medication with antibiotics for the treatment of menstrual symptoms among university women in Southwest Nigeria.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was administered to female undergraduate and graduate students (n = 706) at four universities in Southwest Nigeria in 2008.

Assets, challenges, and the potential of technology for nutrition education in rural communities.

Objective: To examine assets of and challenges to getting adequate nutrition and physical activity among low-income rural residents, and the potential for technology to provide health education.

Methods: Environmental scans and community stakeholder interviews were conducted in 5 rural counties in Maryland. During environmental scans, stakeholders guided tours around each county to explore community services and resources for nutrition, physical activity and technology.

The development of a theory-based instrument to evaluate the effectiveness of continuing medical education.

Purpose: To determine the psychometric properties of a theoretically based continuing medical education (CME) evaluation instrument examining attitudinal determinants of physicians' changes in medical practices after a CME intervention. The instrument's scales represented constructs from the theory of planned behavior.

Method: The authors based the template instrument on educational objectives of the CME intervention and adapted it to the clinical domain of preoperative breast cancer therapy.

Rural eHealth nutrition education for limited-income families: an iterative and user-centered design approach.

Background: Adult women living in rural areas have high rates of obesity. Although rural populations have been deemed hard to reach, Internet-based programming is becoming a viable strategy as rural Internet access increases. However, when people are able to get online, they may not find information designed for them and their needs, especially harder to reach populations.

Using the internet for health-related activities: findings from a national probability sample.

Background: eHealth tools on the Internet have the potential to help people manage their health and health care. However, little is known about the distribution and use of different kinds of eHealth tools across the population or within population subgroups.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence and predictors of participation in specific online health-related activities.

Benefits, barriers, and cues to action of yoga practice: a focus group approach.

Objectives: To explore perceived benefits, barriers, and cues to action of yoga practice among adults.

Methods: Focus groups were conducted with persons who had never practiced yoga, practitioners of one year or less, and practitioners for more than one year. The Health Belief Model was the theoretical foundation of inquiry.

Assessment of the nutrition and physical activity education needs of low-income, rural mothers: can technology play a role?

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of low-income, rural mothers regarding their need for nutrition and physical activity education and the role of technology in addressing those needs. Quantitative and qualitative research was combined to examine the nature and scope of the issues faced by this target population. Women who were currently receiving food stamps and had children in nursery school to eighth grade were recruited through a state database to participate in a telephone survey (N = 146) and focus groups (N = 56).

Developing a questionnaire to measure perceived attributes of eHealth innovations.

Objective: To design a valid and reliable questionnaire to assess perceived attributes of technology-based health education innovations.

Methods: College students in 12 personal health courses reviewed a prototype eHealth intervention using a 30-item instrument based upon diffusion theory's perceived attributes of an innovation.

Results: Principal components analysis found 5 factors accounted for 44.

User-centered research on breast cancer patient needs and preferences of an Internet-based clinical trial matching system.

Background: Internet-based clinical trial matching systems have the potential to streamline the search process for women with breast cancer seeking alternative treatments. A prototype system was developed to leverage the capabilities of a personal health record system for the purpose of identifying clinical trials.

Objective: This study examines how breast cancer patients perceive and interact with a preliminary version of an Internet-based clinical trial matching system, while taking into account the demands of diagnosis and treatment decision making.

A systematic review of evaluation in formal continuing medical education.

Introduction: Physicians spend a considerable amount of time in Continuing Medical Education (CME) to maintain their medical licenses. CME evaluation studies vary greatly in evaluation methods, levels of evaluation, and length of follow-up. Standards for CME evaluation are needed to enable comparison among different studies and to detect factors influencing CME evaluation.

The promise and challenge of eHealth interventions.

Objective: To discuss how health behavior researchers can use the Internet to study and intervene on health behavior.

Methods: Describe how the Internet is increasingly able to offer a viable medium for health behavior intervention and the challenges and opportunities inherent in conducting online interventions and research.

Results: The challenges of eHealth include coping with the additional demands of development, finding ways to reach "hard-to-reach" audiences, and maintaining privacy and security while monitoring participant use.