Evidence-based Participatory Decision Making for Cancer Prevention through implementation research

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common malignant tumours worldwide, with a marked increase among low socio-economic populations, especially in people under the age of 50, with a possible cause in unhealthy eating habits and lifestyles.

The ONCODIR project aims to identify risk factors associated with colorectal cancer and combine research methods and technologies from diverse disciplines – such as modifiable risk factor analysis, health policy, and social and behavioural sciences, together with multi-omics and retrospective data analysis using artificial intelligence (AI), as well as decision support theories – to deliver more accurate, evidence-based cancer prevention programmes.

ONCODIR will offer recommendation services based on input from citizens, medical staff, health policy makers and experts in the social sciences and humanities through design thinking workshops. Factors such as lifestyle, dietary habits, physical and social activity or economic, sociological, cultural or ethical circumstances will be assessed.

To validate the results of ONCODIR, field experiments and pilot projects will be carried out in five European Union countries for which cost-effectiveness, affordability and cost-benefit parameters will be considered.

Consortium

The project consists of a consortium of 27 entities from various technological and scientific fields from ten countries, under the coordination of the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH) in Greece.

The role of INCLIVA

INCLIVA is leading the second work package of the project, dedicated to the harmonisation of user requirements, the systematic review of scientific literature and meta-analysis on risk factors for the development of colorectal cancer, the detection of behavioural barriers of vulnerable groups and the identification of existing and potential policies in the European area that promote prevention measures against the development of colorectal cancer.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.