141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

286816
Community health workers educate at-risk hispanic residents on cancer prevention globally and locally

Monday, November 4, 2013

Julie Ann St. John, MA, MPH, CHWI , Center for Community Health Development, School of Rural Public Health, TAMHSC, San Benito, TX
Chris Beaudoin, PhD , Department of Communication, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
Denise Adame , Center for Community Health Development, TX A&M School of Rural Public Health, College Station, TX
Katharine Nimmons, MSc, MPH , Center for Community Health Development, TX A&M School of Rural Public Health, College Station, TX
ÉPICO: Education to Promote Improved Cancer Outcomes is a tailored training program on prevention/early detection for colorectal, breast and cervical cancers among at-risk Hispanic residents. The project was a cancer education intervention that was cross-sectional, non-experimental, and utilized a pre-test-post-test design. The study setting and population were adult residents living in colonias located along the South Texas-Mexico border. The specific aims ÉPICO included: 1) equip CHWs to educate residents on prevention for colorectal, breast, and cervical cancers; 2) enable CHWs to use tailoring strategies to improve outreach efforts; and 3) increase residents' prevention behaviors. Project activities included: 1) project CHWs completed a CHW instructor course; 2) CHWs trained in focus group moderation; 3) CHWs conducted focus groups to inform module development; 4) developed bilingual modules; 5) pilot tested trainings and revised modules; 6) conducted training sessions; and 7) CHWs implemented tailoring-based training in their outreach activities and administered evaluation tools. Six CHWs became certified instructors, who then played a key role in developing and delivering the cancer modules. Over 3,400 CEUs were provided May 2012-April 2013 to CHWs who educated an estimated 5,000 residents through their daily outreach activities. Analyses will be conducted using STATA, and we will report on descriptive statistics, odds ratios, and t-tests. An unexpected phenomenon that occurred in the project, described qualitatively, was the extension of the education modules to residents across the U.S. border—impacting communities both locally and globally.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related education

Learning Objectives:
Describe the role of CHWs in this cancer prevention/early detection education intervention and how their reach was local and global. Define and discuss message tailoring in the context of CHW-delivered cancer education. Evaluate and discuss the sustainability and replicability of utilizing message tailoring and CHWs in delivering a cancer education, prevention, and training program to at risk, vulnerable populations.

Keywords: Cancer Prevention, Lay Health Workers

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the project manager (and PI on the project) and have several years experience in public health research. I have also trained, supervised, and worked with CHWs/promotores for the past eleven years.
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.