The purpose of the University of Michigan Center for Health Communications Research (UMCHCR) is to develop an efficient, theory-driven model for generating tailored health behavior interventions that is generalizable across health behaviors and sociodemographic populations. The research conducted by the Center will advance the evidence base, methodologies, technologies, and conceptual frameworks relevant to developing and implementing tailored web- and print-based cancer prevention and control materials. The proposed UMCHCR will support three Research Projects: Project 1 will aim to facilitate smoking cessation; Project 2 will focus on promoting fruit and vegetable intake among African American adults; and Project 3 will develop a decision aid to help women decide whether to undergo tamoxifen prophylaxis for breast cancer prevention. All Projects will employ a resolution IV fractional factorial design to determine the potential active ingredients of tailoring, including, but not limited to, communication factors such as message content, message framing, message source, and graphical presentation; individual factors such as culture and socio-demographics; and psychometric factors such as motivation and self-efficacy. The UMCHCR will collaborate with the Cancer Research Network and three of its members: Group Health Cooperative of Seattle, Henry Ford Health System of Detroit, and Kaiser Permanente of Atlanta to recruit and enroll research subjects. The Center will also employ many internationally recognized consultants to serve as committee staff, advisory board members, and co-investigators. Further, the Center will support a number of Developmental Projects that will contribute to the methodological knowledge relevant to enhancing intervention delivery and data collection in the UMCHCR's Projects. All UMCHCR research will be supported by a set of Core Resources including and Administration Core, a Biostatistics Core, a Theory and Measurement Core, a Tailoring Technology Core, and a Recruitment and Data Collection Core. Each Core will interact with the Projects and other Cores, creating both a significant economy of scale and a conceptual and technological synergy unavailable through the sum of individual projects. The Center will also place great emphasis on Career Development opportunities by hosting pre-and post-doctoral fellowship, cancer communication seminars, and a two-week tailoring training institute.
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