This proposal is an expansion of the current education outreach program for the Comprehensive Cancer Center of Wake Forest University and the further development of the Piedmont Oncology Association (POA). Our plan utilizes a community model which has been developed and implemented in our successful clinical trials program and our cancer control program. The model of implementation utilizes two primary community components: (1) """"""""The Oncology Community Leader""""""""; and (2) a community advocate program. The community oncologist is in a unique position to promote cancer control activities and will enable the recruitment of primary care providers to participate in Cancer Center educational outreach activities. The community advocacy program will be developed in parallel with the primary care provider's educational intervention to provide linkage between the community and providers. Community leaders will be trained through the advocates program to deliver information to members of their organizations, through presentations and other activities. The educational program will concentrate on six cancers - breast, colon, lung, prostate, skin, and cervical - in terms of prevention, early detection and treatment. One cancer will be highlighted each month, in both the provider community and the community at-large. The first component of our program will entail the development of a community profile of educational needs and provider needs assessment. The latter will assess the physician's true need versus his perceived needs prior to implementing the CME-based educational program. The community advocacy program Will utilize a community cancer control board to identify and organize key individuals, organizations, and groups to be educated in cancer control activities. The second component entails delivery and evaluation of the educational program utilizing the community model. This proposal is phased in over a period of three years beginning with four target communities and by year three will involve 12 of the 32 POA communities in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia. This program has the potential to involve all of the 32 POA communities and is estimated that 1,692 primary care physicians can be the target of the activities of this project. Ibis proposal networks with the resources of the Bowman Gray School of Medicine including the Office of Education Research and Services, the Comprehensive Cancer Center of Wake Forest University, the Piedmont Oncology Association, and the Department of Public Health Sciences which should enable us to meet the specific objectives of our proposal.
