Tailored intervention does not up CRC screening rates

(HealthDay)—An interactive multimedia computer program (IMCP) tailored to expanded health belief model sociopsychological factors is no more effective for encouraging colorectal cancer screening than a control nontailored informational program, according to a study published in the May/June issue of the Annals of Family Medicine.

Anthony Jerant, M.D., from the University of California Davis School of Medicine in Sacramento, and colleagues conducted a randomized trial to examine whether an IMCP could promote colorectal cancer screening in a multiethnic sample. A total of 1,164 patients were enrolled, stratified by ethnicity and language (49.3 percent non-Hispanic, 27.2 percent Hispanic/English, and 23.4 percent Hispanic/Spanish), and were randomly allocated to IMCP tailored to sociopsychological factors or a nontailored informational program.

The researchers found that, compared with control patients, IMCP correlated with significantly greater colorectal cancer screening knowledge, self-efficacy, readiness, test preference specificity, discussion, and recommendation, after adjustment for ethnicity/language, study center, and the previsit value of the dependent variable. Twenty-three percent of ICMP and 22 percent of control patients received screening during follow-up (difference, 0.5 percent; 95 percent confidence interval, −4.3 to 5.3). The effects of IMCP did not vary by ethnicity/language.

"Sociopsychological factor tailoring was no more effective than nontailored information in encouraging colorectal cancer screening in a multiethnic sample, despite enhancing sociopsychological factors and visit behaviors associated with screening," the authors write.