METHODOLOGICAL STUDIES

Northern California Cancer Center, Fremont CA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

The Pathfinders Methodologic Studies Core seeks to address several research questions of common concern to all projects. These methodologic inquiries are related directly to the objectives of the overall program project, and complement the main hypothesis in the projects. The specific aims of this Core all focus on low-income, multi-ethnic women and will: 1) monitor the changes in managed care systems and examine the relationship of these changes to breast and cervical cancer screening behavior, 2) develop and refine methods for measuring access to, satisfaction with, and quality of care, 3) study aspects of willingness-to-pay for screening services as part of roader cost-effective analyses, 4) assess the magnitude and causes of attrition in follow-up studies, and 5) validate the reliability of self-reported data on screening adherence. The findings from the observations proposed under the first aim will be the principal method used by the program project to assess the effect of changes in health care independent of any Pathfinders intervention. Some data for these sub-studies will be collected at the same time as data for the primary studies. These include baseline and follow-up surveys of 1500 women in Project. However, additional data collection will include medical record reviews of 250 subjects from Project 1 for the validation sub- study, short interviews of the anticipated 600 women who drop out of Project 1 for the attrition sub-study and cost data from Projects 1 and 2 for the cost-effectiveness sub-study. Findings from these methodologic investigations will complement the findings of the primary subjects and improve the validity of their conclusions.