Make It Your Own Clinical Trials Posters: A Regional Collaboration with the National Cancer Institute

Abstract

Introduction: National health organizations usually offer a limited variety of publication resources to the regional organizations that they serve. These resources may not always reflect the needs of the populations served in those diverse areas. Private industry has addressed the varied needs of their customers by offering products that can be customized by the consumer. The Cancer Prevention & Control Research Network (CPCRN) site at Washington University in St. Louis, in collaboration with Midwest Cancer Alliance and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) developed and tested a web-based tool for customizing clinical trial recruitment posters in Midwest Cancer Alliance member cancer centers, NCI's Community Cancer Center Program in Nebraska, and select NCI-designated cancer centers in the heartland region. Methods: CPCRN, Midwest Cancer Alliance, and NCI worked closely with the cancer centers to select, edit and audience test the images and messages that would populate the Make It Your Own (MIYO) system. CPCRN built a secure website and cancer center staff members were trained on the MIYO Clinical Trials Poster website by the Midwest Cancer Alliance, CPCRN and the Heartland Region Cancer Information Service. Each cancer center created a unique user name and password to access the site. Organizations were able to select images, clinical trial messages, and add their own organization's logo in order to build a poster that best reflects the population served. Once created, the poster was provided in a print ready file that could be produced on a local printer, at a hospital print shop, or through a commercial print shop. To determine if this new system of offering cancer publications is a feasible method to create and distribute publications, a program evaluation was conducted using the on-line survey tool Survey Monkey. Project outcomes measured satisfaction, ease of use, number of unique poster element combinations, and number of posters generated and printed. Results: Fifteen cancer centers were trained on the MIYO website; ten completed the post-use survey. Participants indicated that the ease to create a poster, with an average rating of 8.8 (10=very easy, 1=very difficult). Eighty percent indicated that the system offered images that represented the population served. All agreed or strongly agreed that the system was user friendly and that they would recommend the system to others, and 90 % would use MIYO again. A total of ten unique poster element combinations were selected by eleven organizations. Five organizations indicated they printed the posters within 4-8 weeks of introduction to the MIYO system, all on local printers. Discussion: MIYO is a demonstration of the varied needs of local organizations and the opportunity to meet their needs through use of a web-based customizable resource and distribution system. National and academic institutions have the opportunity to test health education resources through collaboration with local and regional health care providers. This collaboration between academia and private organizations gives rise to unique solutions for creation and dissemination of evidence-based resources.