MyGI Diet for Colorectal Cancer Prevention

This application is being submitted in response to the Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) identified as NOT-CA 21-070. The parent grant tests methods to assist high risk individuals in attaining both the weight management and diet quality goals for colorectal cancer (CRC) prevention. Existing recruitment plans for this study mainly rely on clinic-based recruitment and research registries, strategies which have yielded largely well-educated, white study populations in our prior work. Here, we propose methods to optimize recruitment and retention using video education tools to de-mystify the research study, and personal technology assistants to address digital literacy barriers. In the first aim, three short videos will be made for the study website to introduce study staff, show how to reach the study site, explain the study objectives, show visit procedures and address privacy and security concerns. The goal is to build trust and de-mystify the clinical/medical aspects of the trial. Evaluations will include assessing the numbers of individuals contacted from the website versus other sources, comparisons with previous recruitment efforts of high-risk individuals (numbers over time, demographics), website feature usage, and interviews with study staff and enrolled participants to collect opinions regarding the utility of the website. In the second aim, we will evaluate the utility of a Personal Technology Assistant to spur both recruitment and retention of study participants. Limited technology proficiency is well documented to reduce participation in studies that require web-based tasks. This is especially true for older individuals and individuals with who are not yet adept at using the web. Personal Technology Assistants, who are trained to provide digital health literacy support in a culturally sensitive manner, will assist participants with the MyGI mobile app on request, at either the study site and/or at community sites. Evaluations will include quantitative data such as numbers of study participants requesting this assistance as well as interviews of both study participants and study staff. Mixed methods analysis of the quantitative and qualitative assessment data will yield robust information on the utility of the new strategies. If effective, use of both strategies will be continued throughout the study recruitment period. The ongoing maintenance costs will be undertaken by the parent study since the major costs involved with implementation of these aims is in the development of the strategies. The long-term goal of these efforts is to facilitate equitable recruitment and retention of participants in the parent study and to provide in-depth data on the utility of the methodologies that leads to their implementation in other trials.