Title: Firefighter Cancer Assessment and Prevention Study (CAPS) (2021-2023)
Funding: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) (EMW-2019-FP-00517, PI: Graber and EMW-2015-FP-00213, PI: Burgess), the National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (F31HL160196, PI: Shah), the Pilot Projects Research Training Program of the NY and NJ Education and Research Center, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (T42 OH 008422, PI: Shah), and a grant from Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health and the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey (PI: Graber)
Goal:
To characterize cancer risk and prevention activities in volunteer firefighters in order to inform long-term risk reduction.
Specific Aims
1. To characterize and assess firefighting experiences and behavioral cancer-related exposures among volunteer firefighters and compare their exposure experiences to those of career firefighters
2. To quantify environmental exposures in volunteer firefighters that may increase cancer risk.
3. To adapt and apply the innovative FFCCS developing framework for departments to self-enroll in cohort studies.
Outcomes
CAPS (2021-2023) increased the involvement and engagement of volunteer firefighters in research, raised awareness among researchers about the importance of including volunteer firefighters in studies of firefighters’ health, and developed a methodology to include volunteer firefighters in research. As a result of the findings from CAPS (2021-2023), CAPS (2022-2025; FEMA EMW-2021-FP-00416) was created to continue research on and increase cancer prevention knowledge and practices among volunteer firefighters.
Publications