Full Citation
Title: Breast Cancer Champions: A peer-to-peer education and mobile mammography program improving breast cancer screening rates for women of African heritage
Citation Type: Journal Article
Forthcoming?: Yes
ISBN:
ISSN:
DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2306614/v1
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Abstract: Introduction Nationally, women of African heritage die at higher rates from breast cancer than women of other races or ethnicities. We developed Breast Cancer Champions (BCC) a peer-to-peer education program, which recruited 12 women and deployed them into the community in August 2020 during the height of the COVID-pandemic. BCC aims to improve breast cancer screening rates for women of African heritage through peer-to-peer education, which has proven successful for addressing cancer-related health disparities. Methods BCC community experts, or "Champions," are peer-to-peer educators that conduct awareness and screening events in their communities. Champion's education activities were tracked by biweekly check-in calls, which recorded the activity type, location, and the number of participants for each event. We used spatial and statistical analyses to determine the ecacy of the program at increasing screening rates for women within the area of Champion activity versus women outside of their activity area. Results Over 15 months, Champions conducted 245 in-person or online events to engage women in their community for screening. More women of African heritage were screened in areas champions were active during the intervention compared to historical data comparing areas outside of the Champion activity in the prior 15 months (X 2 = 3.0845, p = 0.079). Conclusion BCC successes could be attributed to pivoting to online community building when in-person events were restricted and enabling Champions to design and conduct their own events, which increased outreach possibilities. We demonstrate improved screening outcomes associated with an updated peer-to-peer education program.
Url: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37133574/
User Submitted?: No
Authors: Haynes, David; Hughes, Kelly; Haas, Mckenna; Richards, Gaylynn; Robinson, Benita
Periodical (Full): Cancer Causes & Control
Issue:
Volume: 34
Pages: 1-9
Data Collections: IPUMS Global Health - DHS
Topics: Education, Health, Population Health and Health Systems
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