Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2008 Jun;100(6):674-82.
doi: 10.1016/s0027-9684(15)31340-7.

Using focus groups to adapt ethnically appropriate, information-seeking and recruitment messages for a prostate cancer screening program for men at high risk

Charlene J Bryan  1 , Lindsay Wetmore-Arkader, Tammy Calvano, Janet A Deatrick, Veda N Giri, Deborah Watkins Bruner
Affiliations

Using focus groups to adapt ethnically appropriate, information-seeking and recruitment messages for a prostate cancer screening program for men at high risk

Charlene J Bryan et al. J Natl Med Assoc. 2008 Jun.

Abstract

Purpose: To adapt ethnically appropriate radio and newspaper messages in order to increase information-seeking and recruitment to the high-risk Prostate Cancer Risk Assessment Program (PRAP) using input from focus groups.

Methods: We conducted four gender- and ethnic specific-focus groups composed of up to eight participants each. Group participants ranged in age from 35-69 and were either at risk for prostate cancer or were married to someone at risk. Participants evaluated both print and radio advertisements for a PRAP media recruitment campaign, and their recommendations were used to adapt the advertisements.

Results: Trigger words, e.g,, "research program," were found to be a particular issue for African-American men who cited concerns about "experimentation," while the other groups cited concerns about time commitments and cost. In the print messages, familial themes garnered an overall favorable response, but Caucasian-American participants responded negatively to the use of photos of age-appropriate models.

Conclusion: Focus groups are useful in checking health professional assumptions about health messages prior to developing awareness or recruitment advertisements or materials. There was an implied preference for "younger" models among Caucasian Americans. Radio and print messages were adapted using the focus group recommendations, i.e., focusing on familial themes, adding race-specific risk estimates and using younger-than-target group models.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1a
Figure 1a
Common categories among different ethnic and gender-based focus groups related to preferences for media and prostate cancer screening messages.
Figure 1b
Figure 1b
Common categories among different ethnic and gender-based focus groups related to dislikes in prostate cancer screening messages.
Figure 1c
Figure 1c
Common suggestions among different ethnic and gender-based focus groups related to issues they would like mentioned in prostate cancer screening messages.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Ries L, Melbert D, Krapcho M, et al. SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2004. National Cancer Institute; 2007.
    1. Bach P, Pham H, Schrag D, et al. Primary care physicians who treat blacks and whites. New England Journal of Medicine. 2004;351(6):575–584. - PubMed
    1. Schavers VL, Brown ML. Racial and ethnic disparities in receipt of cancer treatment. JNCI. 2002;94(5):334–357. - PubMed
    1. Powell I. Epidemiology and pathophysiology of prostate cancer in African-American men. J Urol. 2007;177(2):444–449. - PubMed
    1. Ward E, Jemal A, Cokkinides V, et al. Cancer disparities by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. CA Cancer J Clin. 2004;54(2):78–93. - PubMed

Publication types