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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Cheryl Holt, PhD¹, Theresa Wynn, PhD¹, Emily Schulz, PhD², Sanford Jeames, BS³, Mark Litaker, PhD⁴, and Penny Southward, BS¹. (1) Division of Preventive Medicine, Univ. of Alabama, Birmingham, 1717 11th Ave. South, Medical Towers, Suite 641, Birmingham, AL 35205, 205-934-2816, cholt@uab.edu, (2) Occupational Therapy, Univ. of Alabama, Birmingham, 1530 3rd Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35294-3361, (3) HSF- Urology, Univ. of Alabama, Birmingham, TKC 5th, Birmingham, AL 35294, (4) Diagnostic Sciences, Univ. of Alabama, Birmingham, 1530 3rd Avenue South, LHRB 134, Birmingham, AL 35294-0007

African American men are more likely to develop prostate cancer and twice as likely to die from the disease than are European American men. Although there is no evidence as of yet that prostate cancer screening reduces mortality, screening may be beneficial for men at increased risk for prostate cancer, such as African American men. Informed decision making (IDM) is the focus of educational interventions, in which men make the best choice based on their risk assessment (e.g., race, family history), values, and preferences. IDM programs have been delivered through community settings, such as churches. One way of making cancer communication interventions more culturally relevant, and to potentially improve the effectiveness of church-based programs, is to integrate spiritually-based content. This is done by including relevant spiritual themes to frame the cancer educational message thereby putting health in a spiritual context. In the present study, the community was actively involved in the development of a spiritually-based intervention promoting IDM for prostate cancer screening in urban African American churches. Under the guidance of an Advisory Panel of community members, the intervention consisted of: 1) development and pilot-testing of spiritually-based print materials using focus groups and cognitive response testing; and 2) training Community Health Advisors from churches to deliver an educational session on prostate cancer and IDM for early detection using the newly developed materials to test the overall efficacy of the print materials, mode of delivery, and church members' satisfaction with the program. Implementation and evaluation will follow as next steps.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Understand the importance and process of working closely with the community in intervention development.
• 2. Describe the process by which a spiritually-based educational program promoting IDM for prostate cancer screening was developed and pilot tested.
• 3. Describe the components of a spiritually-based educational program promoting IDM for prostate cancer screening, including educational group sessions delivered by Community Health Advisors and supplementary print materials.

Keywords: Health Communications, Cancer Screening

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered

Handout (.ppt format, 1605.5 kb)