Cancer Medicine (Jan 2023)

Interventions to promote home radon testing: A randomized clinical trial of a smartphone app vs. printed brochures

  • Soojung Kim,
  • Tiffany Chiu,
  • Marilyn G. Klug,
  • David Schmitz,
  • Gary G. Schwartz

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.4988
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 2
pp. 2027 – 2032

Abstract

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Abstract Radon is a preventable cause of lung cancer, but the percentage of homes tested for radon is low. We previously developed a smartphone app that informs users about radon and allows them to request a free radon test. Here we conducted a randomized, controlled trial comparing the radon app versus printed brochures on radon knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors, including the proportion of participants requesting radon tests. Participants (N = 138) were undergraduates at a midwestern university. Data were analyzed by t‐tests, general linear models, and logistic regression. App users showed significantly greater increases in radon knowledge (p = 0.010) and self‐efficacy (p < 0.001) and requested tests three times more often than brochure recipients (41.4% vs. 13.2%, p < 0.001). However, the rate of test usage in each condition was low, ~3%. In conclusion, the radon app markedly outperformed brochures in increasing knowledge and requests for radon tests. Future work should focus on methods to increase test usage.

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