Partnering in a colorectal cancer awareness, education and screening campaign for the Pacific Islander community

Colorectal cancer is among the leading causes of cancer deaths for Pacific Islander on both the US mainland and their home island. Embracing the foundational values of community based participatory research (CBPR), WINCART (Weaving an Islander Network for Cancer Awareness, Research and Training) is a collaborative between 5 universities and 8 community based organizations serving Pacific Islanders in Southern California. WINCART conducted a culturally tailored, community driven educational campaign to improve colorectal cancer (CRC) detection through raising awareness about CRC and encouraging active participation in individual health and cancer prevention. The campaign promotes two key messages in a culturally meaningful way: 1) ‘there are ways you can prevent CRC' and 2) ‘talk with your primary care provider about CRC screening.' Materials utilize peripheral, linguistic, constituent involving, and sociocultural strategies to communicate the health message, namely various multimedia -a public service announcement, a CRC informational flip chart, and a bookmark that reinforces CRC knowledge and prevention behavior. A pre-, post-, and follow-up survey was developed to test the efficacy of the CRC educational campaign. A working group- comprised of community leaders from five Pacific Islander communities (Chamorro, Marshallese, Native Hawaiian, Samoan, and Tongan) - was directly involved in the development, planning and implementation stages of the educational campaign to ensure ownership and a joint and equitable process. Although the working group functioned as a cohesive unit with the same overall objective, each community had its own unique contribution in identifying culturally appropriate mechanisms to outreach and educate community members on CRC.