Abstract IA019: Implementation science as an opportunity to address cancer equity

Abstract

Abstract The past decade of research has continued to identify and understand health disparities for cancer prevention and control. Although emerging, progress in addressing these disparities continues to fall short achieving equity. Specifically, for cancer prevention and control, Khan and colleagues in 2021 showed a 15-year lag in implementation of evidence-based interventions (i.e., HPV vaccinations, cancer screenings, etc.). This gap highlights the lack of attention towards the implementation of scientific evidence, the complexity and fragmentation of health systems, and lays bare the structural causes of inequities that continue to persist from a population perspective. Integrating implementation science in cancer prevention and control research can provide a pathway to reduce the time to translation while addressing and advancing cancer equity. Implementation science is defined as the study of methods to promote the adoption and integration of evidence-based practices, interventions, and policies into routine health care and public health settings to improve the impact on population health. Implementation science has pushed the cancer prevention and control field to pay close attention to how we dissemination scientific information towards the adoption of interventions (i.e., dissemination research) and how we systematically study strategies (i.e., the building blocks) that aid in the implementation, scale-up, and sustainability of interventions (i.e., implementation science). With implementation research, there has been a push towards hybrid designs that considers intervention effectiveness and its implementation within the same study. Given the dearth of literature around the implementation of interventions, the science of implementation continues to build on a foundational theoretical base that further provide important opportunities for the promoting equitable outcomes for cancer prevention and control research. In this educational session, we will discuss why and how applying a health equity lens to implementation science is crucial to achieve equity in cancer prevention and control. Using ongoing and completed research studies as examples, this session will help attendees learn about core elements of implementation science including theories, models, and frameworks; implementation strategies; and focal areas of adaptations and de-implementation. Citation Format: Prajakta Adsul. Implementation science as an opportunity to address cancer equity [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 16th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2023 Sep 29-Oct 2;Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2023;32(12 Suppl):Abstract nr IA019.