ASPO Abstracts

Mobilizing Cancer Center-Community Partnerships to Improve Colorectal Cancer Screening among Underserved Populations during COVID-19

Authors: Nonzee NJ, Garcia M, Yeung S, Kidambi TD, Idos G, Martinez M, Mikail, Tran K, Gregerson P, Round P, Lee C, Wu P, Chen N, Denq S, Ashing KT

Category: Cancer Health Disparities
Conference Year: 2023

Abstract Body:
Purpose. As a COVID-19 pandemic back-to-screening initiative, City of Hope partnered with Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and community and faith-based organizations to improve colorectal cancer (CRC) screening among ethnically diverse and underserved populations. Methods. Between October 2020 and October 2022, we implemented a multi-component intervention that included community outreach and education (a multi-ethnic multimedia campaign and community training adapted from the NCI Screen to Save (S2S) program) and clinic-based interventions (provider/staff training and dissemination of in-language patient education and resources). Intervention reach and training participant surveys were assessed. Among our four FQHC partner sites, we also compared clinic-level CRC screening rates among age-eligible patients before (June 2021) and after implementation of the clinic-based intervention component (June 2022). Results. Our reach assessment showed that our multi-ethnic multimedia campaign reached 35.4 million impressions, our Screen to Save education training reached 300 diverse community members, and our provider/staff training reached 150 medical providers. Among the 100 providers surveyed, >80% felt confident they could get their patients to complete their CRC screening test and follow-up care. For the clinic-based intervention component, our baseline sample included 11,259 age-eligible patients across the four FQHC sites. Overall CRC screening rates increased from 45% to 52% before vs. after the intervention implementation period. The site with the highest CRC screening rate (>62%) maintained steady rates over the observation period, whereas the three sites with lower baseline rates showed greater pre-post improvements (15 percentage-point increase). Conclusions. Our community-partnered intervention had a broad reach to ethnically diverse and underserved populations. An overall increase in CRC screening rates was achieved across FQHCs, despite clinic staffing challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ongoing intervention implementation assessment will inform sustainability of CRC screening improvements.

Keywords: Colorectal cancer screening; Cancer disparities; Federally Qualified Health Centers