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Penn’s Center of Excellence in Cancer Communication Research
Investigator: Robert C. Hornik, University of Pennsylvania

Website: http://ceccr.asc.upenn.edu/

Studying the interaction of public communication and clinical services as they affect cancer-related outcomes

Each of Penn’s major projects is specifically linked to clinical services and is intended to produce actionable recommendations. Translation to practice and to policy is built into the Center and its institutional links. The Center’s research focuses on the role of public information in cancer-related decisions and its major theme is the interaction of public communication and clinical services as they affect cancer-related outcomes. The Center emphasizes the importance of training the next generation of communication researchers.

Research project summaries:

• Patient-Clinician Information Exchange: Determinants and Effects on Health Behaviors and Outcomes, (Robert Hornik & Katrina Armstrong, PIs), asks about patient-clinician communication just after diagnosis and its short and longer term effects on patients. Since patient-clinician communication occurs in the context of other mediated and personal information sources, this project examines this interplay.



• Smoking Cues in Anti-tobacco PSAs, (Caryn Lerman & Joseph Capella, PIs) asks about the effects of advertisements designed to drive smokers to smoking cessation (and to cessation programs) and whether the inclusion of smoking cues in those ads creates smoking urges that work against their success.

For full descriptions: Penn Overview December 2008