title: Promoting colorectal cancer screening in public health outreach campaigns.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Research on public outreach campaigns is presented.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  One study examines the effects of instruction design on adherence to cancer self-screening instructions. A second study examines the effect of persuasive announcements on increasing screening campaign participation.
  
  
  METHODS
  The first study examined adherence to screening (operationalized as returning results for evaluation) given standard instructions, or one of three other versions: persuasive, human factored, or a combination of the two.The second study investigated combining persuasion with a campaign announcement to increase participation (operationalized as picking up a test kit).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The first study found that among first-time participants, the persuasive and human-factored instructions evoked higher result return rates than did the standard. The second study found that participation was significantly increased by adding persuasion to the campaign announcement.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Enhancing motivation and reducing cognitive barriers increase adherence to test instructions and increase participation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These are simple, cost-effective strategies that increase adherence to cancer screening in public outreach campaigns,which may reduce cancer-specific mortality.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Wright State University, 3640 Colonel Glenn Highway, Dayton, OH 45435, USA. tamera.schneider@wright.edu
authors.forename: Tamera R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: Markus A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Feufel
authors.forename: Hans J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Berkel
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010565:Persuasive Communication; D015980:Public Health Practice