Make It Your Own (MIYO)

Key question:  Can newer methods of communication, including Internet-delivered applications, be used to improve delivery, acceptance, and effectiveness of small media and client reminders?

Reach: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funds Colorectal Cancer Control Programs (CRCCP) in 29 state and tribal organizations. The programs are encouraged to use evidence-based interventions from The Guide to Community Preventive Services to promote screening among low-income and uninsured men and women.

To help the CRCCPs, we created MIYO (Make It Your Own) in 2008. It is a web-based system that gives community partners the tools to create their own small-media materials and client reminders to promote colorectal cancer screening.

Effectiveness: The MIYO system was shown to be effective in an earlier, NCI-funded feasibility study that sought to promote the use of 1-800-4-CANCER through community-based partners serving African-American populations. The study also sought to increase information-seeking about HPV vaccination among young women and parents of young girls. In St. Louis, call volume increased by 41% from pre-to-post intervention. Further analyses found that call volume increased among women and African Americans and that more callers sought information about cervical cancer and reported hearing about CIS from “other printed sources.”

Findings from the study indicate that: (1) a wide range of community partners used the system and liked it; (2) they created designs of great variability using the system; and (3) the materials they created increased information-seeking about HPV vaccination and cervical cancer.

Connections: Based on findings from the feasibility study, the NCI Office of Communication and Education, together with the Heartland Region Cancer Information Service, tested MIYO as a tool for customizing clinical trials recruitment posters used in NCI-designated cancer centers, NCI’s Community Cancer Center Program, and local cancer centers.

We worked with the CRCCP grantees and their community partners to adapt MIYO for use by state health agencies and local service providers. Through this partnership, grantees have determined what products the system offers and the image, design and content choices available for making each small media and client reminder resource.
Colorectal cancer MIYO launched in March 2011.

Latest Developments: The HCRL has expanded MIYO to include modules on breast cancer screening, cervical cancer screening, and HPV vaccination. We plan to add modules on tobacco cessation and clinical trial participation.

MIYO in action 
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