Recruitment Material

ADMINISTRATOR ADVANCE LETTER

Dear____________,

In order to better understand cancer disparities in populations diagnosed with mental illnesses, the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control (DCPC), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is conducting an Assessment of Cancer Prevention Services at Community Mental Health Centers. The purposes of the study are to better understand capacities of community mental health centers to provide cancer prevention and screening services to persons with mental illness, to identify barriers to providing such services, and to propose strategies to address these barriers and facilitate cancer prevention and screening services. [ENTER CMHC] has been randomly chosen to participate in a brief survey as part of the study, funded by the CDC, and implemented in collaboration with Abt Associates. [Add endorsements here as we obtain them].

As part of this study, we would like you, or your designee, and the psychiatric clinician (psychiatrist, psychiatric nurse practitioner, or other clinician) who oversees psychiatric services at your CMHC to participate in a brief survey. If there is another clinical provider who is better positioned to answer questions about cancer prevention services at your CMHC, you may designate that person to complete the psychiatric clinician survey. Your participation in the survey is voluntary. Your participation will help us to understand more about the current landscape and describe the capacity of CMHCs to provide cancer services.

Your perspective, and the perspective of the psychiatric clinician from your CMHC, will inform the CDC’s understanding of the factors that impact cancer prevention services disparities. We appreciate your input on this important topic because your responses will guide efforts toward improving cancer prevention and screening services for persons with mental illnesses. We hope to capture your organization’s experience to inform policy makers, healthcare providers, and the public about this issue. If you choose to have your CMHC participate in the study, we ask that you provide the email address for the psychiatric clinician (or we will provide a separate link that they can share). Please note that the psychiatric clinician survey is used to collect different information than the survey you are being asked to complete, so it is important that both surveys are completed.

Abt Associates will keep the information you provide confidential. The research team has procedures in place to protect your confidentiality and minimize risk. Your answers will be combined with those of respondents from hundreds of other CMHCs. Your name and the name of your practice will not be linked to your responses or shared, without your permission, with any other entity outside of the research team at Abt Associates or appear in any reports. All de-identified data will be shared with the CDC at the end of the study.

The administrator survey will take approximately 20 minutes for you to complete. Please respond to the survey by DATE through the following URL:

XXX

You can access the survey online by typing the following survey website address into your browser’s address bar (not your “search” box).

If you have any questions about the study, please contact Project Director, Sue Pfefferle at [email protected], or at (617) 520-2699 or Brooke Steele at [email protected], or at (770) 488-4261.

Thank you for helping us with this important study.

Sincerely,

C. Brooke Steele, DO

Medical Officer

Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

PSYCHIATRIC CLINICIAN ADVANCE LETTER

Dear____________,

In order to better understand cancer disparities in populations diagnosed with mental illnesses, the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control (DCPC), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is conducting an Assessment of Cancer Prevention Services at Community Mental Health Centers. The purposes of the study are to better understand capacities of community mental health centers to provide cancer prevention and screening services to persons with mental illness, to identify barriers to providing such services, and to propose strategies to address these barriers and facilitate cancer prevention and screening services. [ENTER CMHC] has been randomly chosen to participate in a brief survey as part of the study, funded by the CDC, and implemented in collaboration with Abt Associates. [Add endorsements here as we obtain them].

As part of this study, [ADMIN’S NAME] has designated you as a psychiatric clinician at [YOUR CMHC] to participate in a brief survey. Your participation will help us to understand more about the current landscape and describe the capacity of CMHCs to provide cancer services.  Your perspective will inform the CDC’s understanding of the factors that impact cancer prevention services disparities. We appreciate your input on this important topic because your responses will guide efforts toward improving cancer prevention and screening services for persons with mental illnesses. We hope to capture your organization’s experience to inform policy makers, healthcare providers, and the public about this issue. Please note that the psychiatric clinician survey and the administrator survey are used to collect different information so it is important that both surveys are completed.

Your participation in the survey is voluntary. Abt Associates will keep the information you provide confidential. The research team has procedures in place to protect your confidentiality and minimize risk. Your answers will be combined with those of respondents from hundreds of other CMHCs. Your name and the name of your practice will not be linked to your responses or shared, without your permission, with any other entity outside of the research team at Abt Associates or appear in any reports. All de-identified data will be shared with the CDC at the end of the study.

The psychiatric clinician survey will take approximately 15 minutes for you to complete. Please respond to the survey by DATE through the following URL: XXX

You can access the survey online by typing the following survey website address into your browser’s address bar (not your “search” box).

If you have any questions about the study, please contact Project Director, Sue Pfefferle at [email protected], or at (617) 520-2699 or Brooke Steele at [email protected], or at (770) 488-4261.

Thank you for helping us with this important study.

Sincerely,

C. Brooke Steele, DO

Medical Officer

Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

ADMINISTRATOR SURVEY INVITATION EMAIL

Dear____________,

In order to better understand cancer disparities in populations diagnosed with mental illnesses, the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control (DCPC), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is conducting an Assessment of Cancer Prevention Services at Community Mental Health Centers. The purposes of the study are to better understand capacities of community mental health centers to provide cancer prevention and screening services to persons with mental illness, to identify barriers to providing such services, and to propose strategies to address these barriers and facilitate cancer prevention and screening services. [ENTER CMHC] has been randomly selected to participate in a brief survey as part of the study, funded by the CDC, and implemented in collaboration with Abt Associates. [Add endorsements here as we obtain them].

Your participation will help us to understand more about the current landscape and describe the capacity of CMHCs to provide cancer services.  Your perspective will inform the CDC’s understanding of the factors that impact cancer prevention services disparities. We appreciate your input on this important topic because your responses will guide efforts toward improving prevention and screening services for persons with mental illnesses. We hope to capture your organization’s experience to inform policy makers, healthcare providers, and the public about this issue. As part of the study, we will also conduct interviews and will select survey respondents to gather more context on the barriers to and facilitators of implementing cancer prevention services in CMHCs.

Your participation in the survey is voluntary. Abt Associates will keep the information you provide confidential. The research team has procedures in place to protect your confidentiality and minimize risk. Your answers will be combined with those of respondents from hundreds of other CMHCs. Your name and the name of your practice will not be linked to your responses or shared, without your permission, with any other entity outside of the research team at Abt Associates or appear in any reports.

The administrator survey will take approximately 20 minutes for you to complete. Please respond to the survey by DATE through the following URL:

XXX

You can access the survey online by typing the following survey website address into your browser’s address bar (not your “search” box).

If you have any questions about the study, please contact Project Director, Sue Pfefferle at [email protected], or at (617) 520-2699 or Brooke Steele at [email protected], or at (770) 488-4261.

Thank you for helping us with this important study.

Sincerely,

C. Brooke Steele, DO

Medical Officer

Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

PSYCHIATRIC CLINICIAN SURVEY INVITATION EMAIL

Dear____________,

In order to better understand cancer disparities in populations diagnosed with mental illnesses, the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control (DCPC), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is conducting an Assessment of Cancer Prevention Services at Community Mental Health Centers. The purposes of the study are to better understand capacities of community mental health centers to provide cancer prevention and screening services to persons with mental illness, to identify barriers to providing such services, and to propose strategies to address these barriers and facilitate cancer prevention and screening services. [ENTER CMHC] has been randomly selected to participate in a brief survey as part of the study, funded by the CDC, and implemented in collaboration with Abt Associates. [Add endorsements here as we obtain them].

As part of this study, [ADMIN’S NAME] has designated you as a psychiatric clinician at [YOUR CMHC] to participate in a brief survey. Your participation will help us to understand more about the current landscape and describe the capacity of CMHCs to provide cancer services.  Your perspective will inform the CDC’s understanding of the factors that impact cancer prevention services disparities. We appreciate your input on this important topic because your responses will guide efforts toward improving cancer prevention and screening services for persons with mental illnesses. We hope to capture your organization’s experience to inform policy makers, healthcare providers, and the public about this issue.

Your participation in the survey is voluntary. Abt Associates will keep the information you provide confidential. The research team has procedures in place to protect your confidentiality and minimize risk. Your answers will be combined with those of respondents from hundreds of other CMHCs. Your name and the name of your practice will not be linked to your responses or shared, without your permission, with any other entity outside of the research team at Abt Associates or appear in any reports.

The psychiatric clinician survey will take approximately 15 minutes for you to complete. Please respond to the survey by DATE through the following URL: XXX

You can access the survey online by typing the following survey website address into your browser’s address bar (not your “search” box).

If you have any questions about the study, please contact Project Director, Sue Pfefferle at [email protected], or at (617) 520-2699 or Brooke Steele at [email protected], or at (770) 488-4261.

Thank you for helping us with this important study.

Sincerely,

C. Brooke Steele, DO

Medical Officer

Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

INTERVIEW INVITATION EMAIL

Dear____________,

As you know, the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control (DCPC), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is conducting an Assessment of Cancer Prevention Services at Community Mental Health Centers. The purposes of the study are to better understand capacities of community mental health centers to provide cancer prevention and screening services to persons with mental illness, to identify barriers to providing such services, and to propose strategies to addressing these barriers and facilitating such services.

Early this year, you participated in a survey as part of this study. We appreciate your participation. As part of the study, we are also conducting interviews and will select survey respondents to gather more context on the barriers to and facilitators of implementing cancer prevention services in CMHCs. You have been selected to have a discussion with us about barriers and facilitators to cancer prevention services at your CHMC. Your participation will help us to understand more about the current landscape and describe the capacity of CMHCs to provide cancer services.

We appreciate your input on this important topic. Your perspective will inform the CDC’s understanding of the factors that impact cancer prevention services disparities, with the ultimate goal of improving cancer prevention and screening services for persons with mental illnesses. We hope to capture your organization’s experience to inform policy makers, healthcare providers, and the public about this issue.

Your participation is voluntary. The interview will not be used to collect personal information. Abt Associates will keep the information you provide confidential. The research team has procedures in place to protect your confidentiality and minimize risk. Your answers will be combined with those of respondents from other CMHCs. Your responses will not be linked with your name or the name of your practice. We would like to record the interview to ensure the accuracy of our notes but will only record the interview with your permission. The recording will only be used to check our notes and will be destroyed once we have completed our analyses. Your name and the name of your practice will not be linked to your responses or shared, without your permission, with any other entity outside of the research team at Abt Associates or appear in any reports. All de-identified data will be shared with the CDC at the end of the study.

If you are willing to participate in a 45 minute to 1 hour interview with our research team, please let us know by [DATE] and we will schedule a convenient time for your interview.

If you have any questions about the study, please contact Project Director, Sue Pfefferle at [email protected], or at (617) 520-2699 or Brooke Steele at [email protected], or at (770) 488-4261.

Thank you again for helping us with this important study.

Sincerely,

C. Brooke Steele, DO

Medical Officer

Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Dear [NAME],

Thank you to the many organizations that already participated in the survey! In order to protect your confidentiality, Abt is not able to tell the National Council for Behavioral Health which organizations have already responded. We apologize if you are getting this email and you have already responded! Your opinion is important to us, and will help us better understand cancer disparities in populations diagnosed with mental illnesses. We are hoping to finish gathering responses by [DATE]. If you haven’t already, please consider taking the time to fill out our survey here.

Thank you!

REMINDER EMAIL FOR CMHCS CONTACTED BY THE NATIONAL COUNCIL

Dear [NAME],

Thank you to the many organizations that already participated in the survey for the CDC Assessment of Cancer Prevention Services at Community Mental Health Centers. Your input is very important to us. In order to protect your confidentiality, and in accordance with confidentiality restrictions of the Abt IRB, Abt is not able to tell the National Council for Behavioral Health which organizations have already responded . We apologize if you are getting this email and you have already responded! The survey should take no more than 20 minutes for administrators and 15 minutes for psychiatric clinicians to complete. Your responses will help the CDC to understand cancer disparities in populations diagnosed with mental illnesses and what supports CMHCs might need to provide cancer prevention services. Please take the time to fill out our survey by [Enter Date]. The survey can be accessed at: [Enter Link].

If you have questions about the survey, please contact Project Director, Sue Pfefferle at [email protected], or at (617) 520-2699 or Brooke Steele at [email protected], or at (770) 488-4261.

Thank you!