219025 A men's cancer survivorship retreat in Alaska

Wednesday, November 10, 2010 : 10:30 AM - 10:45 AM

Stacy F. Kelley, MPH , Department of Reseach and Clinical Services, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consotrium, Anchorage, AK
     
Prostate cancer is the leading cancer diagnosed in men in the United States. While the survival rate is nearly 100%, survivors often experience unique chronic side effects. In general, men diagnosed with these cancers do not participate in survivorship activities. There is an identified need from both the State of Alaska and the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium Comprehensive Cancer Plans to develop social support programs for Alaskan prostate and testicular cancer survivors.

The Men's Retreat for prostate and testicular cancer survivors was first developed as a pilot program for Alaska Native and non-Native men living in Southcentral Alaska. The program brought together cancer survivors in a supportive environment to discuss and share their experiences.

Key findings from a process and outcome evaluation of the Retreat included a high level of participant satisfaction with the Retreat and increased self-reported networking and advocacy efforts among participants. Follow-up evaluation results confirmed a significant increase in the participants' level of social support and use of resources.

Men who attended the Retreat can be good community advocates to support men diagnosed with prostate and testicular cancer. Comprehensive Cancer Programs and others interested in cancer survivorship are encouraged to consider implementing ongoing Men's Retreat opportunities.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Advocacy for health and health education
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Chronic disease management and prevention
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe the development of the Men’s Retreat program including the unique outreach and content considerations used to draw interest from special populations. 2. Describe methods were used to evaluate the development of a cultural tailored prostate and testicular cancer survivorship support program for men. 3. Identify unanticipated results and key recommendations from a process and outcome evaluation of the Men’s Retreat.

Keywords: Cancer, Health Disparities

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to present becuase I coordinated and evaluatated this event.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 5133.1: Improving Health Education Approaches for Cancer Treatment and Survivorship (organized jointly by Cancer Forum and Public Health Education and Health Promotion)