Cancer information service-initiated outcalls to promote screening mammography among low-income and minority women: design and feasibility testing.
BACKGROUND
The telephone information service of the Cancer Information Service (CIS) historically is most effective in eliciting calls from higher income, white women. This article describes the design and feasibility of a project that tested the use of telephone outcalls to extend the reach of the telephone information service to underserved women.


METHODS
Neighborhoods throughout Colorado were identified using a geodemographic database (INFORUM) that allowed selection of census block groups according to demographic characteristics. Households were assigned randomly to: (1) a control group; (2) an outcall-only group, which received "cold" telephone outcalls promoting screening mammography; and (3) an advance card plus outcall group, which received a card introducing the program prior to the outcall.


RESULTS
The use of INFORUM to target low-income, less educated, and black women was largely successful. While quality of intervention delivery was high, the protocol was labor intensive, requiring an average of 40 min to identify and counsel each eligible woman. The advance card did not increase acceptance of the outcalls.


CONCLUSIONS
This approach successfully extended the CIS's audience; however, its labor intensity may limit its applicability. Strategies for increasing the efficiency of outcall efforts are suggested.
Crane
L A
LA
Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado, 80262, USA.
Leakey
T A
TA
Woodworth
M A
MA
Rimer
B K
BK
Warnecke
R B
RB
Heller
D
D
Sloan George
V
V
D000368:Aged; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services; D008327:Mammography; D008875:Middle Aged; D008913:Minority Groups; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011203:Poverty; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods; D012107:Research Design; D013689:Telephone; D014481:United States