A community-driven intervention for prostate cancer screening in African Americans

Health Educ Behav. 2013 Feb;40(1):11-8. doi: 10.1177/1090198111431275. Epub 2012 Apr 16.

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to assess the impact of an educational intervention on prostate cancer screening behavior and knowledge. Participants were 104 African American men, 45 years and older, who had not been screened for prostate cancer with a prostate-specific antigen and/or digital rectal exam within the past year. All participants received an intervention delivered by trained lay community educators using a prostate cancer educational brochure developed in collaboration with the community, with structured interviews preintervention and 3 months postintervention. The main study outcomes included prostate-specific antigen screening rates during the 3-month interval and knowledge, barriers to screenings, and decisional conflict around screening. Compared with the 46 men who did not get screened, the 58 participants who got screened were more likely to have greater than a high school education, annual household incomes ≥$25,000, and a family history of non-prostate cancer (p < .05). Average knowledge scores increased, and barriers to screening scores decreased, from preintervention to postintervention only for participants who had been screened (p < .05). The results of this study demonstrate the feasibility and efficacy of an academic institution collaborating with the African American community to develop a successful prostate cancer educational intervention, an approach that can be expanded to other cancers and other chronic diseases.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Black or African American* / statistics & numerical data
  • Early Detection of Cancer / methods*
  • Early Detection of Cancer / statistics & numerical data
  • Educational Status
  • Health Services Accessibility
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Patient Acceptance of Health Care
  • Patient Education as Topic / methods
  • Preventive Health Services / methods
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / diagnosis*
  • Socioeconomic Factors