A Florida State University-Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare Cancer Center partnership designed to increase breast cancer screening and improve patient access to cancer-care resources in rural areas is now enrolling women in Gadsden and Wakulla counties.

FSU College of Information Launches STEER Program from FSU Headlines on Vimeo.

The STEER (System for Tracking, Empowering, Equipping and Reminding) program, initiated by FSU’s College of Communication and Information, will help rural health-care providers give more timely referrals, empower patients to become active participants in their health-care decisions and better track patients at risk. It will also enhance the understanding of how health information technology systems can improve access among underserved populations and reduce disparities in levels of care.

Mia Liza A. Lustria, the project’s director, has been leading the effort to improve access for rural, under-served populations.   “Similar programs have succeeded in increasing screening rates and patient adherence to screening appointments,” she said.

This program will determine whether the concept will work in rural settings, where people have different health-care challenges. Florida ranks third in the United States for the total number of new cases and deaths from breast cancer. Nearly 1 million women in Florida over 40 have never had a mammogram. National Cancer Institute research has shown that rural women, especially those who are of low socioeconomic status, less educated and non-white, have far less access to cancer services and are less likely to have had a mammogram than urban women.

Compared to urban women, rural women experience longer delays in recognizing symptoms and in seeking medical help. Perceived barriers to treatment and a lack of reminders from physicians have hindered regular mammography screening, according to Lustria.

The team, which includes researchers from the College of Medicine as well as the College of Communication and Information, conducted focus groups with breast cancer patients as well as health practitioners in Wakulla and Gadsden counties to identify patients’ information needs and barriers to care. The team found that the most common barriers rural women face that prevent them from seeking regular mammograms are lack of transportation and financial/insurance issues. For the majority of these patients, the closest mammography center is 20 to 50 miles from their homes.

To help address these issues, the team has developed a directory that includes a list of local and national resources and support programs, such as transportation and child care, currently available to disadvantaged women.

“This project is one of many health-related initiatives that the College is involved in to improve health-care access and quality in the Big Bend region and across the state,” said Ebe Randeree, assistant dean for undergraduate studies at the College of Communication and Information.

The STEER project is funded by a grant from the Florida Department of Health Bankhead-Coley Cancer Research Program.  The team is currently preparing a grant application to apply the STEER framework to colorectal cancer in males in rural underserved communities with the vision of submitting grants for a complete cancer research offensive using the STEER platform planned for 2010.

The primary target for the project are female residents of Gadsden and Wakulla who are 40 years old or older and who have not had a routine mammogram in the past two years.  For more information, call (850) 644-6237