Tailoring Colorectal Cancer Screening Messaging: A Practical Coalition Guide

This resource is targeted at coalition members and leaders who are looking to make highly effective campaigns to increase colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates in their communities, especially for those hardest to reach. Research shows that tailoring health messaging to a specific community produces greater changes in health behavior, such as CRC screenings. By using this step-by-step guide, coalitions can find practical tips and strategies as well as successful case studies illustrating the process.  

This guide was developed by the ACS NCCRT with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) cooperative agreement #NU58DP006460. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, CDC/HHS, or the U.S. Government.

Nuestras Voces Network Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month Infographic

This bilingual infographic on colorectal cancer was developed by the National Alliance for Hispanic Health’s Nuestras Voces Network Program to raise awareness about the importance of screening, and to promote the information from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Screen for Life National Colorectal Cancer Action Campaign during National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.

This infographic can be shared, posted on social media, printed for community distribution, and customized to include a local organization logo. For more information on how to use this resource in your own community see contact information below.

Evaluation: The content of the infographic was based on evidence-based resources including NCCRT’s 2019 Colorectal Cancer Screening Messaging Guidebook and CDC’s Screen for Life National Colorectal Cancer Action Campaign.

Permissions: Made publicly available online by the National Alliance for Hispanic Health’s Nuestras Voces Network Program. See Contact section below for more information.

Publication date: 2020

Post date: March 30, 2020

Contact: For more information about this infographic and the Nuestras Voces Network Program please contact Marcela Gaitán at mgaitan@healthyamericas.org.

2019 Colorectal Cancer Screening Messaging Guidebook: Recommended Messages to Reach the Unscreened

In 2018, the NCCRT and the American Cancer Society researched screened and unscreened populations to better understand and address screening disparities. The goals of the market research were to:

  • Measure general awareness of colorectal cancer screening methods.
  • Understand the rationale, attitudes, and motivations for being screened or not.
  • Analyze priority populations such as adults aged 50-54, rural dwellers, and the marketplace insured.
  • Identify logical and emotional drivers that could encourage screening.
  • Use the drivers to create and test messages that would motivate unscreened individuals.

This guidebook shares the findings and recommendations gathered from that research and is further designed to help in the education, empowerment, and mobilization of those who are not getting screened for colorectal cancer. Our hope is that our partners can take this research and the recommended messaging provided to strengthen your own communications campaigns, creating resources that resonate with the target audiences even more by using your own creativity, innovation and spokespersons.

The NCCRT would like to thank the Public Awareness and Social Media Task Group members who participated in the conceptualization of this Guidebook’s research and content. Also, a very special thank you to the 80% in Every Community Market Research Advisory Group for their participation, expertise, and oversight. 

Other Guides and Resources: 

The Hispanics/Latinos and Colorectal Cancer Companion Guide and Asian Americans and Colorectal Cancer Companion Guide introduce market research about the unscreened from these populations and include tested messages in Spanish and several Asian languages. The 2017 Communications Guidebook is also still a useful resource for developing your messaging campaigns. 

2019 Messaging Guidebook – Table of Contents (Section Downloads Below)

Other tools were developed during the 80% by 2018 campaign and can still help you promote and evaluate your communications:

More communications tools and resources will be coming soon!

 

80% in Every Community 2019 Messaging Guidebook: Recommended Messages to Reaching the Unscreened – July 16, 2019

This webinar provided an introduction to the 2019 80% in Every Community Messaging Guidebook: Recommended messages to reach the unscreened. The guidebook serves as a resource to both better understand the motivations, attitudes, and barriers of key unscreened populations, while it also recommends market tested messages that can educate and motivate these key audiences on the importance of colorectal cancer screening. The 2019 update to this NCCRT resource includes new findings, new population profiles, and message delivery insights that will better inform our efforts to improve colorectal cancer screening rates to 80% in Every Community. 

Speakers:

  • Michelle Aubertine, KS&R
  • Bill Willard, American Cancer Society

 

HSRA Community Health Center Program Data

Each year, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) funded Health Centers (HC) are required to report a core set of information that includes data on patient demographics, services provided, clinical indicators, utilization rates, costs, and revenues. Since 2012, colorectal cancer screening has been included as a clinical quality measure (CQM).

HRSA’s Health Center Data website allows users to explore the UDS colorectal cancer screening rate at the national, the state, and at the HC level. The UDS Mapper allows users to view UDS measures by zip code, create custom maps by adding graphics and text, and export maps. Free registration is required to use the UDS Mapper.

Evaluation: The specification for HRSA’s CQMs are aligned with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) electronic-specified clinical quality measures (e-CQMS) to ensure measure alignment across the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HRSA is also modernizing the UDS reporting process to increase data standardization across national programs, reduce reporting burden, increase data quality, and expand data use to improve clinical care and operations. Rigorous reporting requirements ensure accurate reporting of quality data.

Permissions: Made publicly available online by the Health Resources and Services Administration.

Publication date: Published annually; latest data is for 2016

Post date: October 2, 2017

Contact: Send comments, questions, and suggestions via web form or call 877-974-2742.

best practices handbook for health plans

“Thank you! This is exactly the type of information health plans need to pass to one another to improve partnership/collaboration, as the consumer will benefit at the end.”

“I really enjoyed that each of the health plans featured in the toolkit highlights a different intervention or opportunity. That gives our partners many approaches to choose from.”

Colorectal Cancer Screening Best Practices Handbook for Health Plans

Health plans have an essential role to play in the effort to screen more Americans for colorectal cancer, particularly given that seven out of 10 people who are unscreened are covered by insurance.

Colorectal Cancer Screening Best Practices Handbook for Health Plans, provides a first-of-its-kind compilation of best practices, case studies, templates and tools, that will kick start or infuse health plans’ efforts to save more lives and prevent more cancers.

To develop the handbook, the NCCRT convened an advisory group of health plan experts and interviewed high-performing health plans to understand what works and what doesn’t when it comes to increasing screening among members. Thank you to the many individuals and organizations who contributed their time and expertise to developing this much requested resource.

In the future, we hope to update this handbook with more case studies from high-performing health plans. If you have a story to share about how your health plan has worked to raise colorectal cancer screening rates, please email nccrt@cancer.org.

NCCRT’s issue brief, The Importance of Waiving Cost-sharing for Follow-up Colonoscopies, provides additional information on the colonoscopy copay issue.

View the March 28, 2017 webinar introducing the Handbook for a guided tour of the best practices, case studies, and templates and tools found within the handbook, and hear from one of the profiled health plans.

80% by 2018 Communications Guidebook: Recommended Messaging to Reach the Unscreened

This Guidebook is based on market research from the American Cancer Society with guidance from the NCCRT Public Awareness Task Group. The Guidebook is designed to help educate, empower and mobilize three key audiences who are not getting screened for colorectal cancer:

  • The newly insured
  • The insured, procrastinator/rationalizer
  • The financially challenged

The goal of the Guidebook is to share what we know about reaching these hard-to-persuade groups using tested messages.

The 2017 Guidebook includes additional templates, tools and customized resources. (Note: Some versions of Internet Explorer create errors in the document. If you experience problems please use an alternate browser, such as Firefox or Google Chrome.)

The Hispanics/Latinos and Colorectal Cancer Companion Guide and Asian Americans and Colorectal Cancer Companion Guide introduce market research about the unscreened from these populations and include tested messages in Spanish and several Asian languages.

Use the following tools to help you promote and evaluate 80% by 2018 communications:

The Guidebook reviews what we know from market research about the unscreened and introduces and explains new tested messages. It also provides tools with the messages incorporated to get you started:

Our hope is that partners can take this research and messages provided in the Guidebook and make the message resonate with the target audiences even more by using their own creativity, innovation and spokespersons.

View the following webinars to learn more about the market research that went into this work, and the tools that are available.

Hispanics/Latinos and Colorectal Cancer Companion Guide

The Hispanics/Latinos and Colorectal Cancer Companion Guide is a supplement to the 80% by 2018 Communications Guidebook, created in 2015 and updated in February 2016. This Companion Guide is based on market research on Hispanics/Latinos that are not up-to-date with recommended colorectal cancer screening. The Companion Guide includes:

  • Perceptions about colorectal cancer and barriers to screening among unscreened Hispanics/Latinos
  • Recommendations for reaching unscreened Hispanics/Latinos
  • Spanish language tested messages

The Companion Guide reviews what we know from market research about unscreened Hispanics/Latinos and introduces and explains new tested messages.

New materials that utilize the messaging are now available for all to use.  Partners are invited to use these materials below as is OR cobrand these materials in partnership with the NCCRT and the American Cancer Society.

To cobrand the materials, please fill out the responsible use agreement. You will then be sent the original files with a button allowing you to upload your logo to cobrand the materials.

Our hope is that partners can take this research and messages provided and make the messages resonate with their target audiences even more by using their own creativity, innovation and spokespersons.

Visit the the 80% by 2018 Communications Guidebook to find additional tools and resources to help you promote and evaluate your communications. Find additional guidance on communications for Asian Americans in the Asian Americans and Colorectal Cancer Companion Guide.

View the February 9th, 2016 webinar introducing the Companion Guide.

United States Cancer Statistics: Data Visualizations

This resource provides interactive data visualizations of official federal statistics on cancer incidence and deaths that are produced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

Graphs show national and state cancer data by age and race/ethnicity; trends in cancer incidence and mortality by cancer type and state; and state rankings by types of cancer. The website also provides links to a variety of visualizations of other viewpoints on cancer.

Incidence data are compiled from cancer registries that meet the data quality criteria for all invasive cancer sites combined (covering approximately 100% of the U.S. population).

Evaluation: The website uses official federal statistics on cancer incidence and deaths that are produced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

Permissions: Made publicly available online by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Publication date: 2017

Post date: September 21, 2017

Contact: Submit comments, questions, and suggestions via web form.

State Cancer Profiles

The State Cancer Profiles website provides interactive graphics and maps to characterize the cancer burden across various geographic areas and demographic groups. It focuses on cancer sites for which there are evidence-based control interventions.

The target audiences are health planners, policy makers, and cancer information providers who need quick and easy access to descriptive cancer statistics to prioritize investments in cancer control.

The website brings together data that are collected from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute public health surveillance systems by using either their published reports or public use files. The data are the most recent data that have completed the national data synthesis and quality assurance processes. Many states provide websites with their individual state data, which may be more recent, or in more detail, than can be provided nationally.

The State Cancer Profiles website provides a variety of helpful resources including tutorials, descriptions, and quick reference guides for tables and graphs on the website, which include data on county-level cancer screening, incidence, and mortality rates.

Evaluation: The website brings together data that are collected from public health surveillance systems by using either their published reports or public use files.

Permissions: Made publicly available online by the US Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, and the National Cancer Institute.

Publication date: Updated annually

Post date: September 21, 2017

Contact: Submit comments, questions, and suggestions via web form.