Technology-Enabled Patient and Physician Activation to Enhance Skin Cancer Screening After HCT: A Randomized...

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Dermatology
• Public Health

Background:

• Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) survivors face elevated skin cancer risk.
• Low adherence to recommended skin self-examination (SSE) and physician skin exams necessitates scalable screening strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of remotely delivered interventions in improving skin cancer screening among HCT survivors.
• To assess the impact of patient activation and education (PAE) alone versus PAE plus physician activation on screening adherence.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial involved 720 adult HCT survivors.
• Participants received either PAE (print materials, educational texts) or PAE plus physician activation.
• Outcomes included self-reported SSE and physician skin examinations at baseline and 12 months.

Main Results:

• Both groups showed increased adherence to SSE and physician skin examinations.
• Patient activation significantly boosted SSE rates.
• Physician activation led to a significantly greater increase in physician-performed skin examinations.

Conclusions:

• Remotely delivered interventions effectively enhance skin cancer screening in HCT survivors.
• Patient activation is key for increasing SSE, while physician activation improves clinician-performed screenings.
• These findings support scalable models for high-risk survivorship care.