Abstract
Background. The National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) Cancer Information Service (CIS) Partnership Program involves collaboration with over 900 organizations and coalitions serving minority and medically underserved populations. Cancer Information Service collaborations are categorized into three types: networking, educational program, and program development partnerships. Methods. A survey of CIS partnership organizations (n = 288). Results. Most respondents reported that partnerships with CIS are collaborative and make good use of their organization's skills and resources, and most perceive that the benefits of partnership outweigh any drawbacks. More than one-quarter say partnerships have not done a good job evaluating collaborative activities. Results vary among three types of partnerships. Conclusions. Evaluation of the CIS Partnership Program presents an opportunity to examine how a large-scale and multi-faceted partnership effort has been implemented, how it is evaluated, and initial indicators of program success. Organizations, health professionals, and community leaders interested in effective partnerships can use these findings to strengthen collaborations and maximize outcomes. J Cancer Educ. 2007; 22(Suppl.):S35–S40.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of the CIS Evaluation Advisory Committee, comprised of Pamela Brown, Sharon Davis, Linda Fleisher, Evelyn Gonzalez, Mary Beth Kelley, Andrea Watson.
Notes
aIn the 2005–2010 contracting cycle, the CIS network configuration consists of 15 contracts vs the previous 14.