Effect of Nurse Navigation Program on Colorectal Cancer Screening Behaviour of the Individuals Aged 50-70

Abstract

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third leading cause of cancer mortality in the world. In Turkey, it is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer and fourth leading cause of cancer death. Cancer screening activities are mostly initiated and implemented at primary health care services. Despite it is known that benefits of screening in reducing CRC incidence and mortality rates CRC screening rates are significantly lower among men and women in Turkey. However there are several interventions have been proposed to identify and remove barriers for increasing CRCS in the literature, navigation programs, also known as individualized counseling, have begun to used as a promising method recently. Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate effects of Nurse Navigation Program that is administered to individuals aged 50-70 on their screening behavior concerning colorectal cancer (fecal occult blood test and colonoscopy) and their beliefs about this process. Methods: The study was designed experimental pretest-posttest control group design. In the study it is used random assignment to intervention and control groups, with blocking stratified. The participants of the study were 110 individuals aged between 50 and 70 registered to a family health center in İstanbul. The 'Nurse Navigation Program' was administered to the participants. The data were collected through the use of the following three tools: the Demographical Information Form, The Harvard Colorectal Cancer Risk Assessment Tool, Instruments to Measure Colorectal Cancer Screening Benefits and Barriers. The data obtained were analyzed by the descriptive and significance analyses. Results: Following the Nurse Navigation Program the experimental groups FOBT (82% and 84%) and colonoscopy completion rate (15% and 22%) were significantly higher in the control group at 3 and 6 months follow-up. Following the program when compared with the control group it is found that the mean score of the barriers perception of the experimental group was significantly lower and the mean score of the benefits perception of the experimental group was significantly higher. Conclusion: The results show that the Nurse Navigation Program had significant effects on the CRC screening behavior and health-related beliefs concerning the CRC screening. It can be suggested that the Nurse Navigation Program can be further tested on different groups to observe its effects.