Study aims to improve colorectal cancer screening participation in Nova Scotia

A St. F.X. professor has received a research grant to address the barriers some Nova Scotians face when it comes to colorectal cancer screening.

Arlinda Ruco, an interdisciplinary health professor, was recently awarded the Canadian Cancer Society Emerging Scholar Research Grant – a five-year grant valued at nearly $600,000. 

Ruco said the first part of the grant is in collaboration with the Nova Scotia Colon Cancer Prevention Program, which has been in place since 2009. 

“They’ve got a lot of data around who are the people who have participated in screening over time, the trends, how many people have had positive tests, how many people have had a colonoscopy, how many people have been diagnosed with colon cancer in the province,” Ruco said in an interview on Tuesday. 

The team will also be able to see how events, such as the pandemic, affected certain groups and communities. 

Ruco said analyzing the data will allow the team to see some of the trends that have emerged over time when it comes to colorectal cancer screening. 

From there, Ruco’s team will look at the barriers and enablers for colorectal cancer screening in Nova Scotia and work to create some possible interventions.

“Interventions can be at the individual level from the patient perspective or at the primary care level, so from the provider perspective,” Ruco said.

Ruco said the hope is to do some small pilot testing at this stage of the grant. 

“At the end, we’re hoping to bring together folks from the screening landscape, other researchers from Atlantic Canada, as well as patients, community members, potential screening attendees, to share what we learned,” Ruco said.

Ruco said the research grant from the Canadian Cancer Society is “absolutely critical” for the upcoming project.

“There’s always some indirect costs to actually doing research,” Ruco said. “Even if there’s no cost in getting the data, there’s somebody that has to spend time to prepare the file or be able to send us the data that we need.” 

Ruco said this research grant is important because of the colorectal cancer rates in Atlantic Canada. 

“We have quite high rates of colorectal cancer in Atlantic Canada – one of the highest actually in the country.”

– Arlinda Ruco

“We have quite high rates of colorectal cancer in Atlantic Canada – one of the highest actually in the country –  and we have a lot of work to do in our screening participation rates, so I think there’s a lot of opportunity here to improve outcomes down the line,” Ruco said. 

According to the Canadian Cancer Statistics Dashboard, Nova Scotia was projected to have 870 colorectal cancer cases in 2023 – the highest in the Atlantic provinces. 

Ruco’s previous research work has highlighted best practices by primary care providers who had high cancer screening rates, as well as how to leverage things like social media for cancer screening delivery. 

However, Ruco said this particular research grant is a “career-defining” moment. 

“This funding is instrumental for my career as a cancer screening scientist. It will allow me to build the foundation for an innovative program of research focused on cancer screening and prevention in Nova Scotia and in maximizing outcomes for individuals that may experience worse outcomes.”