Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Jul 7, 2021
Date Accepted: Sep 10, 2021
How can we increase participation rates in the skin cancer screening program in Germany? A study protocol for the mixed-methods project HELIOS
ABSTRACT
Background:
In 2008, a nationwide skin cancer screening (SCS) programme was implemented in Germany. However, participation rates remain low.
Objective:
The overall objective of the “HELIOS” study is to identify targeted and subgroup-specific invitation and communication strategies to increase informed SCS participation in Germany.
Methods:
Focus group discussions will be performed in Erlangen (Germany) to explore potential invitation and communication strategies as well as possible barriers and motivating factors to participate in SCS. Male and female patients of different age groups who have already been diagnosed with skin cancer as well as participants without a prior diagnosis of skin cancer will be invited. Based on these results, an online questionnaire will be developed to identify subgroup-specific invitation strategies. A random sample of 2,500 persons from the general population aged above 35 years from the Munich area will be contacted to complete the questionnaire. Besides descriptive analysis, multinomial logistic regression will be performed. Additionally, a cluster analysis will be conducted to discover patterns or similarities among the participants.
Results:
Recruitment for the focus group studies has started in February 2021 and is ongoing.
Conclusions:
The results of this project will enable us to derive improved and more efficient invitation and communication strategies for SCS. These may be implemented in the future so that SCS will be used more and skin cancer will be detected early. Clinical Trial: Not applicable.
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