Efficacy of an Educational Material on Second Primary Cancer Screening Practice for Cancer Survivors: A Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND: Cancer surivors have limited knowledge about second primary cancer (SPC) screening and suboptimal rates of completion of screening practices for SPC. Our objective was to test the efficacy of an educational material on the knowledge, attitudes, and screening practices for SPC among cancer survivors. METHODS: Randomized, controlled trial among 326 cancer survivors from 6 oncology care outpatient clinics in Korea. Patients were randomized to an intervention or an attention control group. The intervention was a photo-novel, culturally tailored to increase knowledge about SPC screening. Knowledge and attitudes regarding SPC screening were assessed two weeks after the intervention, and screening practices were assessed after one year. RESULTS: At two weeks post-intervention, the average knowledge score was significantly higher in the intervention compared to the control group (0.81 vs. 0.75, P<0.01), with no significant difference in their attitude scores (2.64 vs. 2.57, P = 0.18). After 1 year of follow-up, the completion rate of all appropriate cancer screening was 47.2% in both intervention and control groups. CONCLUSION: While the educatinal material was effective for increasing knowledge of SPC screening, it did not promote cancer screening practice among cancer survivors. More effective interventions are needed to increase SPC screening rates in this population. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrial.gov NCT00948337