Skin Cancer Screening Education Study

Summary

The overall aim of this population-based screening study is to assess whether the skin cancer screening training of family physicians and dermatologists leads to improved screening outcomes. The training course aims to increase the accuracy of detecting early stages of skin cancer. Screening outcomes of an intervention region (Calgary, Canada) in which physicians receive training will be compared with screening outcomes of a control region (Edmonton, Canada) where no physician training is administered.

The investigators will determine whether:

* clinical screening outcomes are more favorable in the group of trained physicians compared to non trained physicians
* there is an increase of knowledge about skin cancer screening among trained physicians, compared to non trained physicians
* skin cancer screenings are associated with psycho-social harms
* population-based screening has an effect on the overall incidence and stage-specific-incidence of skin cancer in Alberta

The investigators are aiming to recruit 100 physicians per region (total of 200 physicians) who will screen 40,000 to 80,000 individuals over a period of 20 months.

Conditions

• Skin Tumors
• Melanoma
• Basal Cell Carcinoma
• Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Interventions

OTHER

Skin Cancer Screening Training

Topics of the 5.5-hour in-class course include: the screening test, types of skin cancer (signs and symptoms), case history taking, epidemiology of skin cancer, etiology, risk factors and risk groups, communicative aspects of primary and secondary preventive measures, and benefits and harms of cancer screenings.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Calgary

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Alberta

  collaborator OTHER

• Association of Dermatological Prevention, Germany

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Lynne H Robertson, MD, FRCPC · University of Calgary

• Gordon E Searles, MD, FRCPC · University of Alberta

• Eckhard W Breitbart, MD, PhD · Association of Dermatological Prevention, Germany

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SCREENING

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

20 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2015-02-28

Primary Completion

2018-12-31

Completion

2019-09-30

Countries

• Canada