Education About Health and Cancer Study

This study investigates different ways to educate rural residents living in New Hampshire and Vermont about cancer research studies and clinical trials to increase knowledge of, increase positive attitudes toward, and encourage enrollment in cancer research studies and clinical trials. The information learned from this study will contribute to a nation-wide initiative to educate the public about clinical trials, including a nation-wide evaluation of that initiative. The results of this study may also help researchers understand how education about clinical trials/research affects knowledge of and attitudes toward cancer research and clinical trials, as well as behavioral intentions and actual behaviors related to enrolling in cancer research studies and clinical trials.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Cancer
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Online educational video

Detailed Description

The study team will implement and evaluate the research study and clinical trials education via online video about clinical trials and cancer research

The education will be based on a set of key messages that cover information about research studies and clinical trials, including what research studies are, the benefits, the risks, and connection to available research studies and clinical trials. We will evaluate the effect on knowledge of, attitudes and behavioral intentions toward, and actual enrollment into clinical trials and cancer research studies.

Participants will watch a video and view website materials ('online module') developed by DCC using messaging provided by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and tailored to our local context. The online module's learning objectives will focus on improving participants' knowledge about what clinical trials and cancer research studies are and how to access trials and studies, increase positive attitudes toward participating in trials and studies, and increase their intent to enroll in trials and studies. Eligible participants will complete pre- and post- surveys to assess achievement of the learning objectives, and they will also be asked a series of questions to assess their eligibility for existing DCC clinical trials and research studies.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 260
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New Hampshire
    • Lebanon, New Hampshire, United States, 03766
      • Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

- Participants must be a resident of one of the RUCC 7-9 counties in NH or VT: Coos, Sullivan Counties in New Hampshire, or Caledonia, Windsor, Windham, Orange, Orleans, Lamoille or Essex Counties in Vermont. They will be invited to participate in the study through social media, listservs, or from flyers in community settings.

Exclusion Criteria:

- Cognitive impairment preventing participation in informed consent process

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: Arm 1; People with social medial accounts (e.g. Facebook) will receive a message about the study (e.g. via a geospatially targeted Facebook ad) and have the option to enroll in the study if meeting eligibility criteria, with some participating in online follow-up.

Other: Online educational video; Participants will receive online education via a video and written web content. Key messages will include information pertaining to cancer research studies and clinical trials. Data will be collected via pre- and post-tests. The post-test includes questions to pre-screen participants for eligibility into cancer research studies and clinical trials; as appropriate, study participants will be referred to those study/trial/clinical teams for follow-up.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in % of Participants With Correct Knowledge Related to What Cancer Research Studies and Clinical Trials Are as Assessed Before and After Educational Intervention, Measured on the Same Day	A pre-test and post-test knowledge questionnaire conducted with participants to assess changes in knowledge related to key learning outcomes expected from the educational intervention, assessed via percent of correct and incorrect responses to 11 true/false "knowledge" questions. A large positive number indicates the percent increase in people getting the answer right after the intervention. % change is a unique number that was calculated as the difference between the % answering correctly after the intervention minus the % correct before the intervention; it is representative of the entire data set and not calculated on an individual participant level. Each row represents a unique survey question evaluating the topic listed in the row title.	Pre-test questionnaire administered before educational intervention; post-test questionnaire administered after educational intervention on same day. Number represents change in knowledge (increase in % of respondents getting the answer correct).
Mean Change in Intent to Enroll in Clinical Trials	A pre-test and post-test questionnaire conducted with participants to assess any changes in attitudes and behavioral intentions related to clinical trial enrollment (assessed via 5 Likert-scale questions: 1 Strongly disagree, 2 Disagree, 3 Unsure, 4 Agree, 5 Strongly agree). The values reported are the mean scores of pre-intervention and post-intervention scores both measured on the same day. Each row represents a unique survey question evaluating the topic listed in the row title.	Pre-test questionnaire administered before educational intervention; post-test questionnaire administered after educational intervention on same day
Change in Enrollment Status in Cancer Research Studies and Clinical Trials as Measured by Comparing Individual % Enrolled at the Time of Intervention and % Who Have Enrolled Within 6 Months After the Intervention	Actual enrollment into a clinical trial or cancer research study will be assessed via Dartmouth Cancer Center (DCC) Office of Clinical Research enrollment records over 6 months post-intervention, measured as a change from the baseline value of 0 participants. Enrollment records for specified DCC trials/research studies will also be assessed and change in enrollment status in cancer research or clinical trials will be measured by direct participant's active status in cancer research or clinical trials project participation.	From time of study participation in educational intervention up to six months.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
• Collaborators: National Cancer Institute (NCI); Dartmouth College
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Judith R Rees, BM,BCh,MPH,PhD, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 31, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): November 3, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): November 3, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 15, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 29, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): June 1, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 30, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 24, 2026
• Last Verified: June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Research; Clinical Trial; Education
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neoplasms
• Other Study ID Numbers: D20039; P30CA023108-40S4 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No