Abstract D022: A novel strategy to assess impact of community outreach and education activities for Hispanic communities: The preliminary results of the CONTINUAR protocol

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Cancer is a leading cause of death among Hispanic/Latinos (H/L) in the United States and Puerto Rico. Educational interventions to improve health behavior uptake and adherence for primary and secondary prevention could reduce dis parities among H/L. While there has been an investment of time and resources to implement health education programs to reach H/L in diverse community settings, little is known about their intermediate outcomes and long-term behavioral impact. Innovative and systematic tracking of event participants can address the gap in knowledge. This report presents the development and preliminary results from the protocol established to track and assess short, intermediate, and long-term changes in cancer prevention knowledge, beliefs, intentions; interest in future research participation; and, ultimately, behavior changes among educational workshop attendees. Methods: The Ponce Health Sciences University – Moffitt Cancer Center Partnership’s Outreach Core provides cancer education to Spanish-preferring audiences in Tampa, FL, and Puerto Rico. We implemented a community outreach protocol (CONTINUAR) to track and assess individual’s cancer prevention knowledge, beliefs, and intentions before and after educational events using an innovative community cohort approach and longitudinal pre/post-test design. Demographic information and personal/familial risk factors were assessed at baseline. All sessions included education about age, gender, and risk-appropriate cancer screenings. Event attendees were asked if they were interested in completing follow-up surveys at 12 and 24 months. Interested participants were consented via an information sheet. They also provided contact information and preferred contact modality for follow-up surveys. Results: Across two events with 449 community members, 223 (49.7%) completed pre/post assessments and 187 (41.6%) enrolled in the study. All event participants considered themselves H/L and 88% stated Spanish as their preferred language. The median age was 60. A paired samples t-test compared knowledge gained regarding current early detection screening guidelines before and after the educational activity, t(222) = 7.97, p<0.001. Most participants surveyed after the workshop reported intention to: speak with a healthcare provider about cancer screening tests (96.2%), get screening for cancer (97.2%), discuss cancer screening with family or friends (95.4%), increase their physical activity (96.2%), participate in research studies (77.1%), and donate tissue to a biobank (68.9%). Conclusion: The results demonstrated the feasibility to enroll participants and an improvement in short-term knowledge. The success of this ongoing longitudinal effort remains to be realized as 12 and 24 months follow-ups aim to assess whether participants are indeed engaged in new health behaviors or accessed cancer-related early detection screening. Citation Format: Jomar Lopez, Jennifer Garcia, Cynthia Cortes, McKenzie McIntyre, Laura Moreno, Jessica McIntyre, Steven K Sutton, Eida Castro, Julio Jimenez, Clement K Gwede, Susan T Vadaparampil. A novel strategy to assess impact of community outreach and education activities for Hispanic communities: The preliminary results of the CONTINUAR protocol [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2019 Sep 20-23; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(6 Suppl_2):Abstract nr D022.