Using CBPR to Extend Prostate Cancer Education, Counseling, and Screening Opportunities to Urban-Dwelling African Americans

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

3-2016

Publication Title

Proceedings of the Eighth American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Conference on The Science of Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved

DOI

10.1158/1538-7755.DISP15-A44

Abstract

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is becoming one of the dominant approaches for bringing evidence- and consensus-based cancer prevention and control practices to medically underserved communities. There are many examples of how CBPR has been useful for generating culturally specific solutions for different health issues that affect African Americans. However, few examples exist in the literature on how the CBPR approach can be applied to address prostate cancer. This presentation will describe a collaborative process for linking inner-city, African-American men to free prostate cancer education, physician counseling, and screening opportunities (prostate-specific antigen [PSA] testing and digital rectal examination [DRE]). The site of this community-based participatory project was the city of Buffalo, located in Erie County, New York. A total of 55 men from 16 zip codes attended the three hour community event. All 55 attendees received free prostate cancer education, and 35 (63%) chose to undergo screening. Of the 35 men who were screened, the majority (29/35= 83%) were African American. Event planners were pleased that nearly three fourths of those screened (26/35=74%) were first-time screeners. All event attendees (55/55=100%), even those who elected not to screen, had an informed screening discussion with one of the attending urologists. All participants were mailed their screening results within 2 weeks, along with personalized instructions for following up with their primary care physician. The collaborative, community-academic process that will be described includes the following: (1) planning and conducting a community needs assessment to contextualize local prostate cancer issues, (2) organizing town and gown event planning, and (3) manipulating aspects of the built environment to build an infrastructure within the community to address disparities in screening opportunities. This presentation will conclude with a description of lessons learned that can help others develop and implement similar activities in other communities.

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