A Telephone-Based Cancer Education & Prevention Intervention for Teens

描述(申请人提供)：癌症、心脏病和糖尿病是美国主要的死亡原因，乳腺癌和宫颈癌是影响年轻女性的最常见癌症，睾丸癌影响年轻男性。当检查实际死亡原因时，吸烟、不良饮食/缺乏体育锻炼、超重和饮酒位居生活方式、行为癌症和慢性病风险因素之首。这些危险因素起源于儿童时期，那时吸烟、饮食和锻炼形成了稳定的终身习惯，并一直跟踪到成年。鉴于癌症和许多慢性病被认为在生命的早期就开始发展，在很小的时候就减少可预防的风险因素是很重要的。鉴于有癌症或慢性病的家族病史，这一点尤其正确，必须考虑到儿童和青少年发展的独特的生物、行为和社会方面。不幸的是，大多数青少年没有收到关于行为-癌症/心脏病/糖尿病关系的适龄信息，尽管儿科服务利用率很高，并在预防医学和妇科就诊期间向青少年提供专业建议，以解决癌症和慢性病预防战略问题。作为我们研究的一部分，我们对特殊人群进行了教育和咨询，了解如何预防和降低他们与生活方式和行为相关的癌症风险。这些干预措施是在高风险的医疗环境中面对面提供的。我们还没有努力接触青少年，在预防医学的背景下这样做，解决多种行为风险，或者利用可能有更大影响的替代干预提供模式(如电话)。鉴于在生命早期减少癌症行为风险因素的重要性，拟议的项目旨在调查青少年中与癌症相关的认知和行为结果是否可以通过在标准的预防性医疗服务之外提供基于电话的癌症预防干预而受到有利的影响。我们假设，被分配接受电话教育和咨询的青少年将实现对癌症和可改变和不可改变的癌症风险因素的更多了解。我们还预计，基于电话的干预将促进家庭健康史的获取、采用的意图/动机以及保护性健康行为的采用。这项研究将做出重大贡献，证明为青少年提供电话咨询作为教育和标准护理的辅助手段，可以对他们的癌症相关认知和行为结果产生有利影响。此外，这项研究将为未来更大规模的干预效果、覆盖范围和对这一人群的影响的研究奠定基础。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cancer, heart disease, and diabetes are leading causes of death in the US, with breast and cervical cancer among the most common cancers affecting young women and testicular cancer affecting young men. When actual causes of death are examined, tobacco use, poor diet/physical inactivity, overweight, and alcohol consumption top the list of lifestyle and behavioral cancer and chronic disease risk factors. These risk factors originate during childhood, when stable, lifelong habits of smoking, eating, drinking, and exercise are formed and track into adulthood. Given that cancer and many chronic diseases are proposed to begin developing in early life, it is important that preventable risk factors be reduced at a very early age. This is especially true in light of a positive family history of cancer or chronic disease, and must take into account the unique biological, behavioral, and social aspects of child and adolescent development. Unfortunately, most teens do not receive age-appropriate information about behavior-cancer/heart disease/diabetes relationships despite high rates of pediatric service utilization and professional recommendations to address cancer and chronic disease prevention strategies with teens during preventive medicine and gynecology visits. As part of our research, we have educated and counseled special populations about ways to prevent and reduce their lifestyle- and behavior-related cancer risks. These interventions have been delivered in-person in high risk medical contexts. We have not yet made efforts to reach out to teens, to do so in a preventive medicine context, addressing multiple behavioral risks, or utilizing alternate modes of intervention delivery (such as the telephone) that might have greater reach. In light of the importance of reducing behavioral risk factors for cancer early in life, the proposed project seeks to investigate whether cancer-relevant cognitive and behavioral outcomes among teenagers can be favorably impacted by providing a telephone-based cancer prevention intervention in addition to standard preventive medical care. We hypothesize that teens allocated to receive telephone-based education and counseling will achieve increased understanding of cancer and modifiable and unmodifiable cancer risk factors. We also anticipate that the telephone-based intervention will promote family health history taking, intentions/motivation to adopt, and the adoption of protective health behaviors. This study will make significant contributions toward proving that cancer-relevant cognitive and behavioral outcomes among teenagers can be favorably impacted by providing them with telephone counseling as an adjunct to education and standard care. Additionally, this study will lay the foundation for future, larger studies of intervention effectiveness, reach, and impact in this population.