Current information sources on questionable and unproven cancer treatments are limited in availability and generally lack critical content. Physicians, Congress, FDA and the public have recognized the need to have quality critical information in order to make informed decisions about these therapies. Phase I demonstrated the feasibility of developing a system for critically evaluating these cancer treatments and to access these critical evaluations through an online computerized database retrieval system. In Phase 2, we will generalize this newly developed strategy to the 29 major questionable and unproven cancer treatments. We will prepare overviews of inactive and emerging therapies. We will use 5 panels, defined by content area. We will modify the computer component using a bulletin board. We will examine and demonstrate other strategies for disseminating this information, including audiotape for health hotlines, videotape, printed summaries, and high visual-appeal computer graphics presentations. We will evaluate the process of using expert panels, by getting feedback from panel members and potential users. The evaluation will focus on completeness, objectively, authoritativeness and currency of information. We will use this information to establish procedures for maintaining the database during Phase III.
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