Projects

The CPCRN Scholars Workgroup strives to educate students, postdoctoral fellows, junior faculty, practitioners, and other health professionals in dissemination and implementation (D&I) science focused on cancer prevention and control and health equity. Scholars will be provided with opportunities to engage in mentored projects with workgroups that most align with their interests. Scholars will have different tracks to follow, but an educational component covering core competencies is required. Through a formalized process, it is our hope that we can increase: the depth and breadth of the Scholars’ connectedness within the CPCRN, a diverse cancer research pipeline, and applied D&I work in academic and clinical settings. Workgroup products are a D&I curriculum, evaluation of curricula, and Scholars’ productivity after the training.

For further information about the CPCRN Scholars Workgroup, please email: christine.agnone@emory.edu or NOBLET@mailbox.sc.edu

The CPCRN iCollab Workgroup investigates implementation support strategies used in cancer prevention and control programs, and how and when they are used strengthen quality improvement (QI) as a method for implementing evidence-based interventions into routine practice. The workgroup will collect and synthesize data about CPCRN projects/studies that engage community and practice partners. The objectives are to describe how CPCRN is advancing: 1) best practices in implementation supports across a variety of funding types, cancer programs, and settings, 2) an understanding of the mechanisms through which implementation support strategies impact outcomes, and 3) how quality improvement and implementation science can be better integrated.

For more information about the CPCRN iCollab workgroup please email:
Catherine Rohweder (rohweder@email.unc.edu) and Emily Bilenduke (emily.bilenduke@ucdenver.edu)

The CPCRN Rural Cancer Workgroup, first established in 2018 will continue to explore issues related to cancer prevention, control, and treatment in rural areas. During the first year, the workgroup will focus on documenting the integration of rural-relevant data and goals in state cancer control plans and will define a study using existing cancer data to assess the impact of rurality and place-specific contextual factors on a cancer-related outcome. The workgroup will continue to solicit study proposals that reflect the interests of the group members.

The purpose of the Cancer Survivorship Workgroup is to advance interdisciplinary research collaborations and the knowledge base that support cancer survivorship with the ultimate goal of promoting health equity for cancer survivors.  We have defined cancer survivors and survivorship as follows: An individual is considered a cancer survivor from the time of diagnosis, through the balance of their life. We also include secondary survivors such as caregivers and family members of those diagnosed with cancer. Survivorship research encompasses the physical, psychological, social, economic and spiritual health of survivors across the cancer continuum, with special emphasis on long-term well-being, including disease prevention and health promotion over the life course. The Workgroup is particularly interested in advancing knowledge related to cancer health disparities in cancer survivorship, leveraging the use of evidence-based programs and validated measures, bridging research and clinical care, and advancing dissemination and implementation of high-quality cancer survivorship science.

The purpose of the Health Behaviors Workgroup is to examine and characterize the complex relationships between the social determinants of health, individual-level determinants, and cancer. The Workgroup is particularly interested in how structural factors (e.g. healthcare access, institutional racism, neighborhood context) influence health behaviors (e.g. tobacco use, physical activity, nutrition) and cancer outcomes. Our objective is to advance understanding of how determinants intersect to influence cancer-related outcomes and disparities. Our work can inform the design of strategies and interventions to mitigate the health impacts of cancer.

The CPCRN Health Equity Interest Group provides guidance to the CPCRN Network on the development and application of a health equity framework that integrates participatory and social determinants of health approaches to cancer prevention and control.  Through our engagement with all CPCRN Centers, we will assess and disseminate best practices of the use of a health equity framework to reduce the cancer burden and disparities across diverse populations served by the CPCRN Network.  Collaborative activities include an environmental scan of CPCRN Network approaches to advance health equity and reduce cancer disparities, identification of measures to guide the Network and others in evaluating cancer prevention and control research within a health equity lens, and dissemination of our collective impact to advance health equity.

The Multiple Cancer Screening Workgroup grew out of the question:  how can we make cancer preventive services easier for people to access and use? Thus we are looking at a cancer screening(s) paired with any kind of preventive service, be it gynecologic or flu vaccine, etc.

Our workgroup has been focused on a conducting a scoping review to answer the research question, ‘What is the structure, content, and impact of bundled cancer screening programs?’

Evidence-based interventions (EBIs) continue to be underused in community programs and practices. The purpose of this workgroup is to develop, test, and refine training and technical assistance strategies with the goal of building community planners’ capacity to select, adapt, and implement evidence-based interventions. The training and technical assistance strategies will be tested with grantees of the Knight Cancer Institute’s Community Partnership Program, through which the Knight has made a 10-year commitment to provide $1 million annually for community-based cancer prevention in Oregon. Participating CPCRN centers also will have the opportunity to test the training and technical assistance strategies locally or in other cross-center projects.