SFG / DTA Scholars: “Cultural materials: a media campaign focused on oral cancer and minority populations”

The SFG / DTA Scholars program was one of the first rounds of projects the DTA Foundation (ADTA Foundation at the time) funded as an organization, in partnership with the Santa Fe Group. The following is an excerpt from the 2004 project report for this project and you can find the full report for all the projects at the bottom of this page.

The purpose of this project is to develop a media campaign for the prevention and early detection of oral cancer for minority populations. Social marketing techniques will be applied to the field of health promotion and disease prevention as a new means of leveraging change in communities burdened with undiagnosed and untreated oral cancer. Ultimately, the investigator proposes to evaluate this campaign in terms of its effectiveness in reaching on the target population and on the impact of the campaign on various media outlets and distributors. Still “in process,” the project was delayed by a shift of institutional affiliation early in the project period and by various other set-backs. It appears to be moving ahead at this time. A number of corporate and academic links have been identified and several outside consultants have and are continuing to assist in the development of materials and the campaign itself. These collaborative arrangements include the Boston Housing Authority, Boston Public Health Commission, Boston Elderly Commission, Columbia University’s Community Dentcare Network, the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, the Multicultural Healthcare Marketing Group, and the New York State Department of Health. Direct funding to assist in supporting the project director has been provided by a Geriatric Fellowship at the Harvard Medical School.