There are longstanding racial and ethnic disparities in breast and cervical cancer survival and early detection. Reach Out--one of 24 demonstrations funded by the CDC under its REACH 2010 initiative--is a Chicago-area collaboration that draws on faith leadership within African American and Latino churches to mobilize low-income minority women to seek early breast and cervical cancer detection. Collaborators include: Access Community Health Network, which operates 19 community health centers; 9 major African American churches; 2 large Latino church organizations, representing 18 Catholic parishes; Y-Me National Breast Cancer Organization; Northwestern University; The University of Chicago; and United Power for Action and Justice, a faith-based membership organization.
The Reach Out coalition developed a community action plan (CAP), which consists of a church-based strategy to provide a faith-related educational intervention coupled with linkage to cancer screening services. Each participating church will implement a "standard" educational program and optional "variable" strategies. The "variable" strategies include: personal testimonials, advocates, pulpit announcements, screening reminders in church bulletins, health ministry activities, support groups, or other church-initiated ideas.
Project staff will share first-year results, highlighting the strategies adopted by churches and the effectiveness of the standard and variable interventions on church members' cancer detection-seeking behaviors. Major components of the evaluation design include: questionnaires administered before and after the standard intervention to assess knowledge; congregational-level surveys administered six months after the intervention to obtain screening rates and what activities influenced screening behavior; and interviews with pastors to assess what organizational aspects contributed to the intervention's effectiveness.
Learning Objectives: Describe the unique components of an urban, faith-based health promotion program Evaluate the effectiveness of a faith-based strategy Identify new methods of reaching hard-to-reach populations
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.