The major goal of the proposed ICWU/UCLA Cancer Control Education Program is to increase the level of cancer hazard recognition and control behavior by ICWU local unions and their members with the ultimate aim of reducing carcinogen exposure levels in the workplace. To achieve this goal, a comprehensive strategy will be developed that incorporates general and specialized cancer control education and a computer-based interactive monitoring system which links ICWU staff with local unions. The formal evaluation of this program will make use of a nationwide field experiment. Briefly, this experiment will proceed in two phases. In the first phase, all locals (N=400) will be invited to a general Cancer Control Institute, where general cancer control education will be imparted to the locals. From this group, 120 locals will be selected for further study, and assigned to one of three main groups: Group A (the control group) which receives only the generalized instruction; Group B which receives both general and tailored instruction, and Group C which receives both general and tailored instruction and interactive cancer control monitoring from the ICWU. Those locals that are to receive individualized instruction will then attend the second Cancer Control Institute, where they will receive individualized cancer control training targeted specifically to their individual needs. A comparison of Group A with B will test our first major hypothesis (whether specialized training increases appropriate cancer control behavior and reduces carcinogenic exposures in the workplace), while a comparison of Group B with C will test our second hypothesis (whether interactive monitoring increases appropriate cancer control behavior and reduces exposure levels). The proposed evaluation will include both process and outcome evaluation, with a heavy emphasis on behavioral, organization, industrial hygiene and medical monitoring measures obtained from questionnaires, plant tours, ICWU records and other source documents. When completed, this evaluation will provide an important test of two key hypotheses relevant to cancer control education in the workplace, and put into operation a monitoring system that can serve as a valuable prototype in cancer control education.
| Brown, E R; McCarthy, W J; Marcus, A et al. (1988) Workplace smoking policies: attitudes of union members in a high-risk industry. J Occup Med 30:312-20 |
| Marcus, A C; Baker, D B; Froines, J R et al. (1986) ICWU cancer control education and evaluation program: research design and needs assessment. J Occup Med 28:226-36 |
