Melanoma and patient-centered public health outreach

Knight Cancer Institute doctors and scientists are pioneers in precision oncology and early detection, but primary care providers, patients and communities have an important, yet unfulfilled, role in the fight against cancer. This program utilizes the Social Cognitive Theory of empowerment to inspire a behavioral change in Oregonians that will reduce melanoma mortality.

In this novel mass media campaign in Oregon, Dr. Leachman and collaborators are comparing marketing and educational strategies in rural and urban areas, using different media channels, including billboards and print advertising, television Public Service Announcements and social media, to evaluate effectiveness. This ad campaign-based research project will compare the efficacy of these different strategies across media type and geographical location.

This group is also conducting small-scale testing with our public health team to confirm indicators of response going forward, in order to determine downstream response rates with different messages and in different media forms and geographical contexts. The group’s goal is to produce data to guide the decision-making process with respect to which media formats produce the best response in which populations, informing future cancer prevention and early detection public education campaigns.