A community health workers' role in health care delivery: Improving health outcomes by using the stages of change to increase prostate cancer screening among African American men

Issues:

Prostate cancer continues to be a major source of morbidity and mortality for African American men. Unlike other chronic diseases, the fear of cancer creates barriers to the utilization of preventative health care services for African American men.

Description:

This poster will focus on discussion of an interactive and intensive skills building course exploring the impact of race, cultural beliefs and the stages of behavior change of African American men in accessing preventative health techniques for prostate cancer. Emphasis is placed on behavior change strategies and use of persuasive messages to encourage and empower African American men to be screened for prostate cancer. Health prevention tools to raise awareness about the negative impact of cancer in the African American community are also discussed.

Lessons Learned:

The skills building course “Cancer Prevention for African Americans” has been delivered to 18 community based organizations in five states. Quantitative cumulative evaluation data from the course denotes 100% of participants have increased awareness about cancer prevention and 85% can apply the skills learned within the next three months. Evaluation data also expressed that 85% of the participants feel confident speaking to others about cancer prevention.

Recommendations:

Research groups, health agencies and organizations have recognized that barriers such as poverty, reduced access to health care, and late stage diagnosis all contribute to disparities in health treatment. Promoting healthy behavior and lifestyle changes has inference to reducing the incidence of prostate cancer among African American men.