ICT for Cancer Prevention in India Case Study Protocol

The team is reaching out to potential case studies throughout India via RTI India's existing cohort of contacts working cancer prevention across private, civil society, and public sectors. The research aims to better understand the use of ICT for cancer prevention in India by classifying cases along the cancer prevention pathway, by cancer site, and by stakeholder. The team believes that case studies are a useful method for ICT research in the Indian context, as few have been documented or evaluated. The goal is to develop an analysis and narrative with findings from the cases that will inform future research, implementation science, and technology development. The team has a staged approach to this project, which includes case identification, informational interviews, case selection, field site visits, data compilation and analysis, and synthesis. Cases will be selected according to four criteria: cancer site, type of ICT, stage of cancer prevention pathway, and location in India. Data collection will involve a combination of open-ended and semi-structured interviews, broken down into categories such as demographics, organization, technology, and ICT impact. The team will gather information on the local context, the implementing organization, the target community, and the technology being deployed. After extensive data collection, the team plans to identify trends and themes within the currently deployed interventions, looking at type of stakeholder, location along the cancer care continuum, and type of ICT. They will then identify critical factors for success in a cross-case analysis. The research team acknowledges several limitations, including the limited scope of the project due to the small number of cancer prevention ICT initiatives in India, time limitations restricting data collection, and limitations in the amount and type of information an organization is willing to disclose. The team will not obtain any specific patient-related information and will not disclose personal patient information that may be revealed to them. The project schedule includes planning in June, data collection in June and July, data analysis in June and July, reporting in July and August, and finalizing the report in August.