Community-Academic Partnership to Implement a Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Education Program in Puerto Rico

• Published in: Puerto Rico health sciences journal Vol. 36; no. 4; pp. 191 - 197
• Main Authors: Colón-López, Vivian, González, Daisy, Vélez, Camille, Fernández-Espada, Natalie, Feldman-Soler, Alana, Ayala-Escobar, Kelly, Ayala-Marín, Alelí M, Soto-Salgado, Marievelisse, Calo, William A, Pattatucci-Aragón, Angela, Rivera-Díaz, Marinilda, Fernández, María E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Puerto Rico Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Ciencias Medicas 01.12.2017
• Subjects: Adult; Breast Neoplasms - diagnosis; Community-Institutional Relations; Cooperative Behavior; Female; Hispanic or Latino; Humans; Mass Screening - methods; Middle Aged; Patient Acceptance of Health Care; Patient Compliance; Patient Education as Topic - methods; Practice Guidelines as Topic; Puerto Rico; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms - diagnosis; Young Adult; Puerto Rico; Puerto Rico; Breast and Cervical Cancer; Community-based participatory research (CBPR); Evidence-based intervention; Lay Health Worker (LHW)
• ISSN: 0738-0658; 2373-6011

To describe how a community-academic partnership between Taller Salud Inc., a community-based organization, and the Puerto Rico Community Cancer Control Outreach Program of the University of Puerto Rico was crucial in the adaptation and implementation of Cultivando La Salud (CLS), an evidencebased educational outreach program designed to increase breast and cervical cancer screening among Hispanic women living in Puerto Rico. This collaboration facilitated the review and adaptation of the CLS intervention to improve cultural appropriateness, relevance, and acceptability for Puerto Rican women. A total of 25 interviewers and 12 Lay Health Workers (LHWs) were recruited and trained to deliver the program. The interviewers recruited women who were non-adherent to recommended screening guidelines for both breast and cervical cancer. LHWs then provided one-on-one education using the adapted CLS materials. A total of 444 women were recruited and 48% of them were educated through this collaborative effort. Our main accomplishment was establishing the academic-community partnership to implement the CLS program. Nevertheless, in order to promote better collaborations with our community partners, it is important to carefully delineate and establish clear roles and shared responsibilities for each partner for the successful execution of research activities, taking into consideration the community's needs.