263795 Improving Community Perceptions of Health Research through Community-Academic Partnerships

Tuesday, October 30, 2012 : 9:30 AM - 9:50 AM

Melissa A. Green, MPH , Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
Margo Michaels, MPH , Executive Director, Education Network to Advance Cancer Clinical Trials, Bethesda, MD
Natasha Blakeney, MPH , Program Director, Education Network to Advance Cancer Clinical Trials, Bethesda, MD
Al Richmond, MSW , North Carolina Institute of Minority Economic Development, Healthy Workplace Initiatives, Durham, NC
Giselle Corbie-Smith, MD, MSc , TraCS Community Engagement Core, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
Introduction: Increasing minority accrual in clinical trials depends upon awareness of trials, opportunities to participate, and strongcommunity-academic relationships. Strengthening community-academic partnerships by raising individual and members about health research and patient protections. organizational capacity to engage in research as active participants and community gatekeepers, has the greatest likelihood of leading to research that improves the health of underserved communities. In this study we describe the experiences of lay health advisors (LHAs) and representatives of community-based organization (CBOs) participating in two interventions designed to educate African American community Methods: We recruited community members and community-based organizations, respectively, to participate in Community Research Advocates (a LHA intervention) and Community Bridges to Cancer Clinical Trials, two educational interventions on health research. Following participation in the intervention training, LHAs and CBOs completed monthly reports describing the activities for up to two years following training. We use descriptive analysis to summarize and report their experiences.

Results: Fifteen African American community members participated in a lay health advisor training on health research and the Project CONNECT registry. They initiated informal discussions about health research with 110 community members. Representatives from four community-based organizations reported 153 individual discussions about health research and clinical trials. Advocates and organization representatives report settings and factors that facilitate and challenge information sharing. Organizations reported more positive views about cancer clinical trials following participation in the training and regional collaboration with cancer agencies regarding this topic. Conclusion: Community-academic partnerships represent a promising strategy to strengthen community perceptions of health research.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Advocacy for health and health education
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education

Learning Objectives:
Describe methods for culturally tailoring cancer clinical trials education for minority populations.

Keywords: Minority Research, Community-Based Health Promotion

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the project manager for the research presented and have contributed to project design, implementation, and evaluation as well as the development of this abstract.
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.