# Full Project 2: Supporting High Risk African American Men in Research, Engagement & Decision Making (SHARED)

> **NIH NIH U54** · NORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $11,586

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Supporting High Risk African American Men in Research & Engagement in Decision Making for Lung Cancer
Screening is a ChicagoCHEC outreach research full project that aims to reduce lung cancer inequities across
diverse populations of high-risk smokers. Racial/ethnic minorities carry the greatest burden of lung cancer
morbidity and mortality, with African American men (AAM) carrying the greatest incidence and mortality rates.
Low dose helical computed tomography (LDCT) lung cancer early detection screening is recommended by the
US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF - B recommendation) among adults aged 55-80, with a history of
smoking. However, few studies have addressed how to engage high risk AAM and their clinical care providers
in LDCT. We propose an innovative outreach intervention research project engaging AAM as Citizen Scientists
to improve uptake of lung cancer screening at Mile Square Health Centers (MSHC), a group of 13 Federally
Qualified Health Centers associated with the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System at UIC.
Citizen Scientists refer to lay persons who are not formally trained as scientists but who are trained to engage in
research efforts responsive to community needs. Citizen Scientists have proven valuable in increasing
communities’ knowledge and awareness of research, building trust in scientific research, and informing areas of
research design and ethics. As the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requires a shared decision-
making process for Medicare and Medicaid recipients prior to LDCT screening, we focus our Citizen Scientists
efforts in this study on leveraging their social networks to engage AAM and supporting and enhancing an Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) evidence-based Decision Aid (DA) that promotes shared decision
making and subsequent lung cancer screening. We propose the following aims 1): recruit and train 8 AAM as
Citizen Scientists; 2) engage Citizen Scientists to examine knowledge, attitudes, barriers and facilitators related
to LDCT lung cancer screening among AAM smokers and their providers; 3) using data obtained in Aim 2,
engage Citizen Scientists to refine outreach strategies for engaging AAM in lung cancer screening with MSHC
and adapt the AHRQ DA to co-create a culturally targeted lung cancer screening DA for AAM patients and their
providers; and 4) engage Citizen Scientists in a pilot RCT comparing the relative efficacy of the culturally targeted
Citizen-Scientist informed DA vs the standard care AHRQ DA on knowledge, decisional support, and lung cancer
screening among AAM. We hypothesize that compared with AAM assigned to the standard care DA, those
receiving the Citizen-Scientist informed DA will demonstrate greater intention to screen, greater utilization of
LDCT screening per USPSTF guidelines, and greater knowledge and perceived decisional support. Engaging
AAM as Citizen Scientists is expected to improve outreach and respond to the ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10478262
- **Project number:** 5U54CA202995-08
- **Recipient organization:** NORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Joseph Ben Levi
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $11,586
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2015-09-24 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10478262

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10478262, Full Project 2: Supporting High Risk African American Men in Research, Engagement & Decision Making (SHARED) (5U54CA202995-08). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10478262. Licensed CC0.

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