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NIH grant funds study of ways to promote cancer screening | |
| By Jason Peevy |
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Three years ago, Springston underwent successful surgery for prostate cancer after a routine screening caught the disease early. Diagnosed at only 42, he now calls himself “the classic poster child for early detection.” Doctors told him he may not have lived to be 50 if the cancer hadn’t been detected early. “But they caught it and so far I’m doing great,” he says. “Fortunately I was practicing what I preach. Thank goodness.” Ironically Springston had begun preaching the importance of cancer screening about eight years ago, because the disease was so common in his family. “Clearly having cancer so prevalent in my life was a motivating factor in me applying my research in the direction of health communications,” he says. “My own experience has been a real validation of my research. For me this is professional and personal.” The NIH-funded study will examine the effectiveness of a CD-ROM designed to encourage users to get mammograms. Springston will design the CD at UGA and will conduct the research over the next five years with professors from Indiana University and Duke University. The study population will be women enrolled in managed care organizations in Indianapolis and the Raleigh-Durham, N.C., area. “We want to see if one of these methods promotes mammography screening more effectively,” says Springston. “We are also concerned with cost-effectiveness. That is a major part of the study—to see if the CD-ROM is viable economically. We hypothesize that over time it will be much cheaper. While it will be more costly up front, over the long haul it becomes more economical. With the telephone method, you need a lot of highly trained people, but research has shown this to be a very effective way to promote the screenings.” Springston says women should be tested annually for breast cancer after reaching the age of 40 or 50 (the medical community has not settled this issue yet)—and earlier if there is a strong family history of the disease. “I’m excited about this because it can make such a huge difference,” says Springston. “If caught early, the American Cancer Society indicates that more than 95 percent of women can be cured of breast cancer. If you don’t catch it early, that number starts to drop.” Colon cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer should not kill most people, Springston says. “Having the power to stop people from dying from this disease lies in communication. A lot of time people literally don’t know they need to go do something. We are providing information to them,” he says. |
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