Community Outreach and Engagement

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT: ABSTRACT The goal of the UFHCC of Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) is to reduce the cancer burden and promote health equity in our catchment area (CA) and beyond. The COE office has 16 staff who form partnerships with the community and scientists, conduct outreach, and facilitate implementation of evidence- based cancer risk reduction and screening to address CA needs and disparities. The COE aims are to: 1) assess and monitor CA cancer burden and disparities using linked clinical, social determinants of health, and community member reported data; 2) engage the community as partners in adopting evidence-based strategies for cancer prevention, screening, treatment, and survivorship through outreach and education; 3) enhance the impact of UFHCC research on the CA by involving the community in research agenda setting, aligning research with the CA cancer burden, linking UFHCC scientists to the community, and facilitating access to interventional trials, particularly for those traditionally underrepresented; and, 4) engage faculty, trainees, and the community in advocacy and policy development. The CA of 23 counties accounts for 77% of UFHCC cases. Every county is a medically underserved area and/or population, and roughly half have persistent poverty. Therefore, COE further characterized the CA by census tract socioeconomic vulnerability (SEV) to inform programmatic prioritization. The CA has higher cancer overall incidence and mortality rates than the state or the U.S. The greatest mortality burden is observed for tobacco-related cancers, colorectal, and HPV-related cancers in those residing in high SEV and persistent poverty census tracts. The CA has high rates of individuals who are uninsured, current smokers, and adults ≥65 years along with low educational attainment and cancer screening rates, relative to Florida and the U.S. Using these data and Community Advisory Board recommendations, COE focused on high priority cancers, (e.g., tobacco-related, HPV-related, colorectal), with an emphasis on increasing the uptake of cervical and colorectal cancer screening and reducing cancer risks (e.g., tobacco use, sun exposure, lack of HPV vaccination). Since 2020, >1,000 women received education about cervical and colorectal cancer screening and 281 were navigated to mobile outreach clinics for Pap and HPV self-tests. Over 350 skin cancer prevention kits were distributed to Florida farmworkers. After a delay due to COVID-19, COE began linking cancer patients to the Money Matters Program, which provides financial counseling and linkage to community resources. COE works with liaisons from each UFHCC program to engage researchers in addressing the cancer burden of the CA and links members to the community through the 1) UFHCC Citizen Scientists; 2) OneFlorida Clinical Research Consortium; and 3) community groups, such as the Project CONTINUITY Steering Committee. COE future plans are to: expand Project CONTINUITY to 10 additional communities with an increased focus on lung cancer screening, enhance participation of underrepresented individuals in treatment trials, and engage older adults in cancer survivorship education and research.