ASPO Abstracts
Culturally tailored Colorectal Cancer Screening Health Education: Screen to Save
Category: Cancer Health Disparities
Conference Year: 2020
Abstract Body:
Purpose: NCI's Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities launched Screen to Save (S2S):
Colorectal Cancer (CRC) Outreach and Screening Education Program with a National Outreach
Network of Community Health Educators (CHEs) at NCI designated cancer centers to increase CRC
education and screening in diverse communities. The University of California San Francisco (UCSF)
Cancer Center S2S project implemented culturally tailored CRC health education and assessed
increase in knowledge and intent for screening uptake among multi-ethnic, multilingual populations.
Methods: UCSF CHEs developed an outreach plan to outline intended audiences, CRC screening
rates, assets, partners and activities. Conducted CRC education events to deliver prevention, early
detection and screening messages and referrals for connections to care. Developed culturally
tailored educational workshops and materials (PowerPoints, audiovisuals) for African American,
Latino and Chinese; translated surveys for Chinese and Spanish. Evaluated workshop impacts using
a 14-item pre-/post- education survey to measure changes in knowledge, intention to screen for CRC
and reduce cancer risk. Respondents received a gift card and CRC materials. Results: UCSF S2S
project reached 436 people through 16 culturally tailored CRC education activities; 368 completed
the surveys. The majority of respondents (98%) were age >50 years (mean age 65). Respondents
were 79% female and 20% male. Paired t-test assessed changes in knowledge score. The scores
ranged from 0 to 14 pre-education and 3 to 14 post-education. CRC knowledge scores improved on
average 1.9 points (13.5%) (pvalue <0.0001). Post-education, 98% of respondents strongly agreed
or agreed to talk to a healthcare provider about screening; 97% strongly agreed or agreed to obtain
screening. Conclusion: S2S is part of a national approach to address CRC health disparities.
Through community engaged, culturally tailored health education and partnerships, S2S
demonstrated efficacy in increasing knowledge. S2S may be a model for improving CRC screening.
Future efforts may include a post education event evaluation and follow-up to explore uptake of CRC
screening and risk reduction practices.
Keywords: colorectal cancer screening education