A church-based intervention to increase cancer screening

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It has been well documented that disparities exist between African Americans and European-Americans with ¿egard to morbidity and mortality associated with breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer. While great progress has been made on the research of factors associated with health disparities in the past few years, Further work is necessary with regard to translation of this proven efficacious research to practice. The goal of this research project is to examine the effectiveness of a multicomponent program that addresses breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening among African American women 50 years of age and older attending four local churches in Jefferson County, Alabama using community-based participatory research. This research program is a continuation of a successful ongoing collaborative effort between the UAB Minority Health and Research Center, local churches, and a community-based coalition - Healthy ongregations Healthy Communities (HCHC). We will adapt the Forsyth County Cancer Screening Project (FoCaS), a multicomponent intervention developed by Paskett and colleagues to promote breast and cervical cancer screening among low-income women, primarily African Americans, 40 years of age and older. We will expand the church component of this program and include colorectal cancer screening as part of our efforts. We will first conduct a formative evaluation phase to adapt and refine the existing intervention in conjunction with our partners. We will then train the congregational health leaders, who, in turn, will implement the adapted multicomponent program among 200 African American women 50 years of age and older in their respective churches. Immediate as well as annual outcomes of the proposed program will be carefully and extensively evaluated. Finally, based on a "hub and spoke" approach, we will disseminate the tested program to other churches in Jefferson County, Alabama. The existing churches will serve as "mentors" for the new churches who are willing to implement the tested program.