141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

284374
A community health advisor program: Dissemination challenges and opportunities

Tuesday, November 5, 2013 : 3:30 PM - 3:50 PM

Ana M. Navarro, PhD , Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA
Irma Hernandez , SDSU-UCSD Cancer Center Comprehensive Partnership, San Diego, CA
Catalina Bernal , SDSU-UCSD Cancer Center Comprehensive Partnership, San Diego, CA
Rosa Coronado , SDSU-UCSD Cancer Center Comprehensive Partnership, San Diego, CA
Ruth Hong , California Division, American Cancer Society, Inc., Los Angeles, CA
Stephen Jiang , California Division, American Cancer Society, Inc., Oakland, CA
Pat Morgan , California Division, American Cancer Society, Inc., Walnut Creek, CA
Olga Sánchez , SDSU-UCSD Cancer Center Comprehensive Partnership, San Diego, CA
May Sung, MPH , California Division, American Cancer Society, Inc., Oakland, CA
Community health advisor (CHA) programs are recognized as important tools to promote health equity in medically underserved communities. Building on the extensive experience over more than two decades of a CHA program in the area of cancer screening and early detection, we tested the feasibility of the program dissemination under significant logistic constraints. More than 20 community agencies in California participated in the program. The agencies implementing the program were primarily community clinics that had worked with community health advisors in some capacity. Together across all sites and in the course of three months, CHAs completed 62 breast health and 15 colorectal cancer screening two-hour sessions following the corresponding standardized facilitator's guide. Thirteen participants attended the sessions on average (N=946). Paper and pencil questionnaires were administered before, immediately after, and 4-6 weeks after the session. Analyses were conducted separately for the breast health and colorectal cancer screening CHA program sessions. Pretest-posttest comparisons in both programs (i.e. breast health and colorectal cancer screening) indicated a statistically significant (McNemar tests, p<.01) increase in cancer screening knowledge. In addition, the percentage of program participants who reported having had a cancer screening test according to age and gender recommendations was also statistically significantly higher at follow-up compared to pretest. The results of the project demonstrated the feasibility of successfully implementing a standardized CHA program across a variety of sites and agencies despite tight time and budget constraints. The importance of community partnerships forged over time can't be overemphasized.

Learning Areas:
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Identify the critical components of a cancer early detection community health advisor program. Assess potential benefits of the program and opportunities for dissemination. Recognize minimum requirements that must be in place prior to the program implementation.

Keywords: Community Health Promoters, Health Disparities

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Dr. Navarro has expertise in community based participatory research projects to promote health equity. Her current projects are in the area of cancer prevention and control. She is an Associate Professorof Family and Preventive and is also the UCSD principal investigator of the SDSU-UCSD Cancer Center Comprehensive Partnership, an innovative project to address cancer disparities through research, training, and outreach.
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.