Outreach programs and their effects within the Cancer Information Service network

Outreach programs have been part of the Cancer Information Service (CIS) program since its outset. The scope of work of the first two CIS contracts gave broad responsibilities to the local offices for public and professional education, responsibilities that were carried out in a diverse fashion with little national direction. As the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Office of Cancer Communications matured and became more directed, the CIS local offices began successfully to implement programs with the Office of Cancer Communications and through intermediary groups. The Partners in Prevention (PIP) effort, launched by NCI in 1984, was the first major national community education program in which all the CIS offices participated. Shortly after the inception of PIP, however, the outreach personnel were deleted from the CIS contracts, due to budget restrictions. When the outreach component was reinstituted in 1990, the structure of the program changed to a catalytic role, working with local media and intermediary organizations to bring the NCI program messages and materials to targeted audiences and memberships. Under the reconfigured CIS network, the outreach program will serve as a resource to both those community institutions that are funded by NCI and those that are not and will be proactive in intermediary development. This paper details the chronology of the program and presents some of the research issues that need to be addressed in the future.