Assessing the relationship between patient-provider communication quality and quality of life among rural cancer survivors.

PURPOSE: We explored relationships between patient-provider communication quality (PPCQ) and three quality of life (QOL) domains among self-identified rural cancer survivors: social well-being, functional well-being, and physical well-being. We hypothesized that high PPCQ would be associated with greater social and functional well-being, but be less associated with physical well-being, due to different theoretical mechanisms. METHODS: All data were derived from the 2017-2018 Illinois Rural Cancer Assessment (IRCA). To measure PPCQ and QOL domains, we respectively used a dichotomous measure from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey's Experience Cancer care tool (high, low/medium) and continuous measures from the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G). RESULTS: Our sample of 139 participants was largely female, non-Hispanic White, married, and economically advantaged. After adjusting for demographic and clinical variables, patients who reported high PPCQ exhibited greater social well-being (Std. ß = 0.20, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.35, p = 0.02) and functional well-being (Std. ß = 0.20, 95% CI: 0.05, 0.35, p = 0.03) than patients with low/medium PPCQ. No association was observed between PPCQ and physical well-being (Std. ß = 0.06, 95% CI: - 2.51, 0.21, p = 0.41). Sensitivity analyses found similar, albeit attenuated, patterns. CONCLUSION: Our findings aligned with our hypotheses. Future researchers should explore potential mechanisms underlying these differential associations. Specifically, PPCQ may be associated with social and functional well-being through interpersonal mechanisms, but may not be as associated with physical well-being due to multiple contextual factor rural survivors disproportionately face (e.g., limited healthcare access, economic hardship) and stronger associations with clinical factors.

Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program: Implementing Effective Public-Private Partnerships to Assure Population Health.

With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), it is essential for the public health sector to elucidate its role with respect to its mission of assuring population health, and to clarify its role with respect to the private health care system. To that end, we examined the value added to the population health enterprise of successful public-private partnerships (PPPs) such as those found in the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program (IBCCP), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) in Illinois. Key Informant (KI) interviews focused on IBCCP implementation were conducted with IBCCP lead agency (LA) program coordinators (n = 35/36) in winter 2012-2013. Analysis was conducted using Atlas.ti software. The KI interviews revealed the existence of highly developed PPPs between the IBCCP LAs and individual medical providers and hospitals across Illinois. The data suggest that the small amount of funding provided by IBCCP to each LA in Illinois has been used to build and sustain robust PPPs in the majority of the IBCCP communities. The PPPs developed through the IBCCP can be seen as an unplanned benefit of CDC's investment in breast and cervical health through the NBCCEDP. While the IBCCP/NBCCEDP might be considered a "boutique" categorical program which some may consider no longer necessary as individuals gain insurance under the ACA, the KI data underscore the critical role of public sector dollars, not only to serve individuals and communities directly but also to mobilize the private health care sector to act in partnership with public entities and become advocates for underserved communities.

Co-learning with home care aides and their clients: collaboratively increasing individual and organizational capacities.

Changes in health care provide unprecedented opportunities for collaboration across research, education, and practice for the common goal of enhancing the well-being of older adults and their caregivers. This article describes how a pilot project, Promoting Seniors' Health with Home Care Aides, has synergistic education, research, and practice effects that enhance individual and organizational capacities. This pilot is an innovative partnership with home care aides to deliver a safe physical activity program appropriate for frail seniors in a real-life public home care program. The intervention and research occur in older adults' homes and thus provide rare opportunities for the research team and partners to learn from each other about dynamics of home care in older adults' life contexts. Co-learning is essential for continuous quality improvement in education, research and practice. The authors propose to establish "teaching home care" to ensure ongoing co-learning in gerontology and geriatrics.

The SHARED Project: A Novel Approach to Engaging African American Men to Address Lung Cancer Disparities.

Black men are disproportionately impacted by lung cancer morbidity and mortality. Low-dose helical computed tomography (LDCT) lung cancer screening has demonstrated benefits for reducing lung cancer deaths by identifying cancers at earlier, more treatable stages. Despite the known benefits, LDCT screening is underutilized in black men. Studies in racially heterogeneous populations have found correlations between screening behaviors and factors such as physician trust, physician referral, and a desire to reduce the uncertainty of not knowing if they had lung cancer; yet little is known about the factors that specifically contribute to screening behaviors in black men. Community engagement strategies are beneficial for understanding barriers to health-care engagement. One community engagement approach is the citizen scientist model. Citizen scientists are lay people who are trained in research methods; they have proven valuable in increasing communities' knowledge of the importance of healthy behaviors such as screening, awareness of research, building trust in research, and improving study design and ethics. This paper proposes an intervention, grounded in community-based participatory research approaches and social network theory, to engage black men as citizen scientists in an effort to increase lung cancer screening in black men. This mixed-methods intervention will examine the attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs of black men related to uptake of evidence-based lung cancer screening.

The Urban Medicine Program: Developing Physician-Leaders to Serve Underserved Urban Communities.

PURPOSE: Medical school graduates are poorly prepared to address health care inequities found in urban, underserved communities. The University of Illinois College of Medicine developed the Urban Medicine Program (UMed) to prepare students for the roles of advocate, researcher, policy maker, and culturally competent practitioner through a four-year curriculum integrating principles of public health with direct interventions in local, underserved communities. This study assessed the program's effectiveness and evaluated early outcomes. METHOD: The authors analyzed data for UMed students (graduating classes 2009-2013) from pre- and postseminar assessments and longitudinal community project progress reports. They also compared UMed and non-UMed outcomes from the same classes, using graduation data and data from two surveys: Medical Students' Attitudes Toward the Underserved (MSATU) and the Intercultural/Professional Assessment. RESULTS: UMed students were more likely than non-UMed students to endorse MSATU constructs ("Universal medical care is a right" [P = .01], "Access to basic medical care is a right" [P = .03], "Access is influenced by social determinants" [P = .03]); to be selected for the Gold Humanism Honor Society (P < .0001); to complete joint degrees (P < .0001); and to enter primary care residencies (P = .002). CONCLUSIONS: Early outcomes reveal that a longitudinal, experiential curriculum can provide students with competencies that may prepare them for leadership roles in advocacy, research, and policy making. Contact with diverse communities inculcates-in medical students with predispositions toward helping underserved populations-the self-efficacy and skills to positively influence underserved, urban communities.

Community-based participatory research and user-centered design in a diabetes medication information and decision tool.

BACKGROUND: Together, community-based participatory research (CBPR), user-centered design (UCD), and health information technology (HIT) offer promising approaches to improve health disparities in low-resource settings. OBJECTIVES: This article describes the application of CBPR and UCD principles to the development of iDecide/Decido, an interactive, tailored, web-based diabetes medication education and decision support tool delivered by community health workers (CHWs) to African American and Latino participants with diabetes in Southwest and Eastside Detroit. The decision aid is offered in English or Spanish and is delivered on an iPad in participants' homes. METHODS: The overlapping principles of CBPR and UCD used to develop iDecide/Decido include a user-focused or community approach, equitable academic and community partnership in all study phases, an iterative development process that relies on input from all stakeholders, and a program experience that is specified, adapted, and implemented with the target community. RESULTS: Collaboration between community members, researchers, and developers is especially evident in the program's design concept, animations, pictographs, issue cards, goal setting, tailoring, and additional CHW tools. CONCLUSIONS: The principles of CBPR and UCD can be successfully applied in developing health information tools that are easy to use and understand, interactive, and target health disparities.