Congress Abstracts 2005

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USE OF TELEVISED ANNOUNCEMENTS TO IMPROVE SCREENING AND RECRUITMENT OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN MALES TO A CANCER PREVENTION STUDY. Lisa Morgan, RN, OCN^®, David Leos, RN, BSN, MBA, OCN^®, and Norma Sheridan-Leos, RN, MSN, AOCN^®, CPHQ, Curtis & Elizabeth Anderson Cancer Institute, Savannah, GA.

Numerous issues influence whether a person chooses to participate in a cancer prevention clinical trial. Studies on recruitment of minorities indicate that African-Americans have a distrust of the clinical trial process. African-American males have an increased incidence of prostate cancer than do white males.

This poster will describe how a community cancer center devised a televised announcement that was able to improve screening and enrollment to the SELECT study. Details will be provided so that other organizations can replicate this intervention for their organizations.

A SELECT study recruitment team was devised, the team brainstormed on ways to more effectively recruit African-American males to the study. This team was lead by a nurse; other team members included marketing, members of the target population, research nurses, and the clinical nurse specialist. The team worked with a local television station to craft a public service announcement (PSA) that was culturally sensitive and would have an impact on the viewer. An African-American meteorologist met with the team to discuss the project and he agreed to support the project. The station had a working relationship with the organization and did not charge the team to tape the PSA or to televise the PSA.

Before PSA, 21 calls were received about the SELECT study, 7 from African-Americans, with 2 being registered. In 2003, after the PSA, 312 calls were received, 278 generated by the PSA. Of these, 102 were African Americans, 8 of whom were registered on the study.

Televised announcements, when carefully constructed, can be used as an effective method to improve recruitment of African-American males to a cancer prevention study. Nurses have the skills and knowledge to help devise culturally sensitive televised messages to enhance minority recruitment.