ASPO Abstracts
Generating Consensus on Essential Activities in Community Outreach and Engagement Evaluation Plans among National Cancer Institute-Designated Cancer Centers
Category: Behavioral Science & Health Communication
Conference Year: 2023
Abstract Body:
Purpose of the Study: Community outreach and engagement (COE) is a fundamental activity of NCI cancer centers. Due to the wide variety of COE activities centers must achieve, the ability to prioritize and evaluate effectiveness of COE efforts is instrumental. This study aims to: 1) identify the range of COE activities among cancer centers; 2) assess relationships among identified activities, including importance and ease to collect; and 3) explore potential measures for evaluating COE activities. Methods: From May to July 2022, we recruited 58 participants from NCI cancer centers in COE leadership positions. Using concept mapping, a participatory mixed method, we conducted a series of activities, including sorting and rating of ideas, to generate concept maps through multidimensional scaling, hierarchical cluster analysis, and bivariate rating comparisons. We brought the maps to the participants in a series of guided group discussions to identify the most essential COE activities and associated measures. Results: Participants listed 66 unique COE activities carried out by cancer centers, which grouped into 10 thematic clusters. We compared these clusters to the Cancer Center Support Grant COE merit descriptors; three of the top-rated clusters fell under the merit descriptor on community engagement, while other clusters had items distributed across multiple descriptors. Participants identified several essential areas including: building trust, serving as a bidirectional bridge, forming strategic partnerships, integrating COE into center structure, prioritizing/communicating community needs, informing research to reduce cancer burden/disparities, and training to support outreach efforts. Participants indicated process measures (e.g., number of meetings, outreach events, partners) are more feasible to operationalize as opposed to metrics of impact in community trust, empowerment, and changes in cancer outcomes. Conclusions: Overall, our novel application of concept mapping distills the vast array of COE activities into 10 thematic areas and advances approaches to conceptualize and evaluate COE activities at NCI cancer centers. These findings provide more thorough and consistent understanding of COE activities and ways to prioritize efforts with limited resources.
Keywords: Community engagement, cancer health disparities, mixed methods