Third annual fecal occult blood testing in community health clinics

Objectives: Our objective was to determine the effectiveness of 3 approaches to encourage completion of fecal occult blood testing (FOBT) in the third year of the intervention. Methods: Between 2008 and 2011, a quasi-experimental intervention was conducted in 8 predominantly rural Federally Qualified Health Centers. Clinics were randomly assigned to enhanced care (screening recommendation and FOBT kit mailed annually), education (patients additionally received a health literacy appropriate pamphlet and simplified FOBT instructions), or nurse support (same as education but with nurse follow-up). Participants included 206 patients with negative FOBTs in years 1 and 2; ages 50-85, 80% female, 70% African American, and 52% had limited health literacy. The main outcome measure was completion of a third annual FOBT. Results: Third-year FOBT rates were 48% overall, 34.2% enhanced care, 59.6% education, and 47.4% nurse support (p =.21), even after adjustment for sex, marital status, and health literacy. Conclusion: All mailed interventions were similarly effective in sustaining rates of FOBT screening. Post hoc analyses of the results analyzed by health literacy skills found that patients with both limited and adequate health literacy skills were more likely to complete FOBTs when mailed simplified instructions.