Participatory Design of a Text Message System to Support Community Health Advisor

描述（由申请人提供）：美国癌症死亡率持续下降；然而，非洲裔美国人和低收入和/或受教育程度低的人患新发癌症和癌症死亡率最高。对癌症风险的认识差异和掌握错误信息可能是造成癌症健康差异的潜在因素。由于非洲裔美国人的癌症负担不平等，2000年初建立了深南癌症控制网络（DSN），以建立可持续的社区基础设施，以提高癌症意识，并开发和试验创新的社区癌症控制措施，以消除阿拉巴马州和密西西比州非洲裔美国人之间的癌症死亡率差距。作为研究伙伴的社区卫生顾问（charp）接受了培训，以便在其社区开展癌症认识活动，并作为协调社区研究的伙伴。随着技术的出现，使个人能够获得更多的信息，健康促进方案的发展，如戒烟，体育活动，体重管理，使用短信服务（SMS），或手机的短信功能，已经显示出许多积极的成果。通过为charp提供手机短信系统，charp可以通过与社区成员的同步、实时通信，获得准确和最新的癌症健康信息。该项目的总体目标是开发和试点测试一种创新的交互式短信应用程序，旨在为DSN charp提供癌症健康信息和支持网络。该项目将以技术接受模型（TAM）为指导。这一理论表明，当向用户展示一项新技术时，许多因素（感知有用性和感知易用性）会影响用户对如何以及何时使用该技术的决定。具体目标是：在DSN charp中进行广泛的形成性研究，以评估SMS技术传递信息和确定癌症信息需求的可行性和可接受性；与DSN charp合作，起草和评估将列入短信数据库的短信，以便开发旨在提供癌症信息的短信系统原型；并实施和评估SMS系统通过charp提供癌症信息的有效性。这项研究的结果将为癌症健康差异和移动电话技术领域的更广泛研究提供基础。此外，更好地了解如何向农村和资源匮乏地区的人们传播癌症健康信息，将有助于改进干预措施。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cancer mortality is continuing to decline in the United States; however, African Americans and people with low income and/or education have the highest rates of both new cancers and cancer deaths. The differences in knowledge of cancer risks and possessing misinformation may be a potential contributing factor to cancer health disparities. Due to the unequal burden of cancer among African Americans, the Deep South Network (DSN) for Cancer Control was established in early 2000 to establish sustainable community infrastructure in order to promote cancer awareness and to develop and test innovative, community-based cancer control measures to eliminate cancer mortality disparities among African Americans in Alabama and Mississippi. Community Health Advisors as Research Partners (CHARPs) were trained to deliver cancer awareness activities in their community and to serve as partners in the coordination of community-based research. With the emergence of technology that allows individuals' increased access to information, the development of health promotion programs, e.g. smoking cessation, physical activity, weight management, which use the short messaging service (SMS), or text messaging function of the mobile phone, have shown many positive outcomes. By providing CHARPs with a mobile phone SMS system, CHARPs can have access to accurate and up-to-date cancer health information through synchronous, real-time, communication to community members. The overall goal of the project is to develop and pilot test an innovative, interactive SMS application designed to provide cancer health information and a support network for the DSN CHARPs. The project will be guided by the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). This theory suggests that when a user is presented with a new technology, a number of factors (perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use) influence her decision about how and when she will use the technology. The specific aims are: to conduct extensive formative research among DSN CHARPs in order to assess the feasibility and acceptability of SMS technology to deliver information and identify cancer information needs; to collaborate with DSN CHARPs to draft and evaluate text messages to be included in the SMS database in order to develop a prototype SMS system aimed at providing cancer information; and to implement and evaluate the effectiveness of the SMS system for delivering cancer information through CHARPs. Results from this study will provide a basis for more extended research in the field of cancer health disparities and mobile phone technology. In addition, a greater understanding of how to distribute cancer health information to those in rural and low resource areas will lead to improved interventions.