Collaborating on a Multi-Component intervention to increase Lung Cancer Screening uptake

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Abstract/Project Summary: NCCC is the only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the Northern New England region (i.e., VT, NH, ME). NCCC has a bi-state catchment area comprised of New Hampshire and Vermont that is impacted by high lung cancer incidence and mortality rates. The CDC-funded VT Cancer Plan for 2021-2025, while not final, will include a goal to increase lung cancer screening (LCS) uptake—as only 15% of eligible Vermonters were up-to-date with screening in 2017. VT’s cancer coalition, Vermonters Taking Action Against Cancer (VTAAC), convenes individuals and organizations from across VT (including NCCC and project partners the American Lung Association, Vermont Department of Health, and University of Vermont Medical Center) to help implement the Cancer Plan. VTAAC has an existing Task Force infrastructure to bring together partners focused on specific areas of the cancer plan—including an LCS Task Force. While this infrastructure has supported connections, networking, and cooperation among partners, VTAAC’s Steering Committee and NCCC would like to foster deeper, collaborative relationships in which partners—including NCCC—co-implement and co-evaluate projects. We will pilot an enhanced Task Force model with the LCS Task Force, building its capacity to truly collaborate on a shared project by providing funding for the lead organization, convening the group specifically for project collaboration, assessing the Task Force’s membership, and reviewing project evaluation results and jointly determining future directions for sustained collaboration. Drawing on The Community Guide’s robust evidence-base for interventions that effectively increase uptake of other cancer screenings, we will collaborate with the VTAAC LCS Task Force and its members to co-implement and co-evaluate a multicomponent intervention to increase LCS uptake while addressing known barriers to LCS in our catchment. The intervention will include: 1) an educational campaign to increase community demand for LCS; 2) transportation programs and streamlined appointment scheduling to increase community access; 3) and continuing education, provider reminders, and provider assessment/feedback to increase provider delivery of LCS referrals. The LCS Task Force will review the evaluation results and determine which components to sustain and scale with additional partners based on impact and feasibility. To further sustain our enhanced partnership and optimize the opportunities for collaboration, we will conduct a modified Delphi technique to seek consensus on the broader coalition’s top priorities, we will support the development of new Task Forces aligned with those priorities, and we will seek collaborative funding. To facilitate engagement of additional NCCC investigators with VTAAC, we will conduct an in-reach assessment of NCCC Cancer Population Science Research Program investigators’ areas of expertise, train them on community engagement principles, and match them with the appropriate VTAAC Task Forces.