Promoting Colorectal Cancer Screening in Public Health Outreach Campaigns

Objective: Research on public outreach campaigns is presented. Background: One study examines the effects of instruction design on adherence to cancer self-screening instructions. A second study examines the effect of persuasive announcements on increasing screening campaign participation. Method: The first study examined adherence to screening (operationalized as returning results for evaluation) given standard instructions, or one of three other versions: persuasive, human factored, or a combination of the two. The second study investigated combining persuasion with a campaign announcement to increase participation (operationalized as picking up a test kit). Results: The first study found that among first-time participants, the persuasive and human-factored instructions evoked higher result return rates than did the standard. The second study found that participation was significantly increased by adding persuasion to the campaign announcement. Conclusion: Enhancing motivation and reducing cognitive barriers increase adherence to test instructions and increase participation. Application: These are simple, cost-effective strategies that increase adherence to cancer screening in public outreach campaigns, which may reduce cancer-specific mortality.