Wayne State University and Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute Researchers Establish New Digital Engagement and Cancer Outcomes Center with ACS Grant

"We are incredibly grateful and excited for this opportunity to expand research and programs that focus on digital inclusion and help to ensure that all individuals and communities can access and use digital health tools to support optimal cancer outcomes," said Hayley Thompson, Ph.D., the principal investigator of the grant and the DECO Center, and professor of Oncology at the Wayne State School of Medicine, as well as associate center director for Community Outreach and Engagement at Karmanos. "It's significant that the past decade has seen greater effort to address the social determinants of health -- the non-medical factors affecting health like employment, housing and food access -- in health care settings. However, the digital divide and digital inclusion have not consistently been part of that conversation. In fact, digital inclusion is now being considered a super-determinant of health, especially broadband access, which has been shown to be associated with area-level health outcomes."

Dr. Thompson, also a member of the Population Studies Research Program at WSU and Karmanos, explained the importance that the research also takes into account meaningful use of digital tools for patients. Some questions she suggests need to be part of the research are:

• Can patients access and use their patient portal?
• Can they find and enlist services that offset their financial challenges?
• Can they find reliable, trustworthy cancer information online?
• Can they connect with others affected by caner online and find more social support?

"This is especially important in Detroit, where the majority of residents are Black, one-third of residents live in poverty and cancer disparities are striking," Dr. Thompson said. "The good news is that Detroit and the metro area already have leaders in this domain and digital inclusion expertise through organizations and networks. They also provide a firm foundation for the work we have proposed."

The center, in its inaugural research, includes three core projects:

• "MI-COST Digital+: Development and pilot of a digital financial navigation intervention and digital support for Black cancer survivors in Detroit," will seek to increase digital inclusion through collaboration with a community-based digital equity organization and integration of its services into MI-COST, an online financial intervention designed to increase financial knowledge and access to resources. This project, supported within the DECO Center as an ACS Research Scholar Grant, will be led by principal investigator Theresa Hastert, Ph.D., associate professor of Oncology at Wayne State and member of the Population Studies Research Program at Karmanos.
• "Digital Health Navigation to Address Disparities in Cancer Care" proposes the creation of a Digital Health Navigator role be embedded in a multidisciplinary treatment team to provide high-quality technical support to Black cancer patients and increase the use of patient portals. This project, which provides career development support through the Clinician Scientist Development Grant program, will be led by Eliza Beal, M.D., a surgical oncologist on the Gastrointestinal and Neuroendocrine Oncology and Cutaneous Oncology Multidisciplinary Teams at Karmanos, member of the Population Studies Research Program, and associate professor of Oncology and Surgery at Wayne State.
• "Advancing Equity in Cancer Digital Inclusion: Investigating Clinician Bias and Black Patient Uptake of Health-Related Digital Tools," will be the first study to examine the association between providers' implicit racial bias, the extent to which they recommend digital solutions to Black patients and the impact on Black patients' use of digital tools. Supported within the DECO Center as an ACS Research Scholar Grant, this project will be led by principal investigator Lauren Hamel, Ph.D., associate professor of Oncology at Wayne State and co-leader of the Population Studies Research Program at Karmanos, with the goal of examining clinician recommendations of health-related digital tools to Black cancer patients.

In addition to the three studies, the DECO Center includes more than 30 community partners and organizations as collaborators, including cancer patients and caregivers, and organizations that support digital inclusion and access. Two organizations collaborating during the project are Human-I-T, a social enterprise offering low-cost new and refurbished devices at a range of price points and options for low-cost high-speed internet, and the Patient Empowerment Network, a national non-profit organization focusing on technology use and providing informational and educational resources to support patients and caregivers throughout every phase of their cancer experience. The DECO Center will also integrate Karmanos' Technology Assistance for Cancer Patients and Caregivers Program, based on resources developed by the Patient Empowerment Network.