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A comparison of African American and Latina social networks as indicators for culturally tailoring a breast and cervical cancer education intervention
Author(s) -
Erwin Deborah O.,
Johnson Virginia A.,
Trevino Michelle,
Duke Kelly,
Feliciano Luisa,
Jandorf Lina
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/cncr.22356
Subject(s) - outreach , medicine , witness , intervention (counseling) , psychological intervention , breast cancer , ethnic group , gerontology , focus group , cervical cancer , cancer , nursing , sociology , political science , computer science , anthropology , law , programming language
As similar cancer health disparities have been documented for African American (AA) women and Latinas, it would be important to determine whether comparable interventions could be used to increase screening among these 2 culturally different populations. This paper reports research findings comparing cultural dimensions of breast and cervical cancer as they impact Latino and AA social networks and explore the feasibility of creating outreach models that may serve both groups. An existing intervention that integrates the social roles and relationships of AA women, The Witness Project®, is used as a framework for tailoring an intervention for Latino communities. Findings and data from focus groups and key informant interviews were collected from more than 120 Latinos in Arkansas and New York City. These findings are analyzed using the Pen‐3 Model, categorized, and compared with previous social role and network information from AA women as reflected in the Witness Project® intervention model. The findings from this study demonstrated variations between AA women and Latinas with regard to roles and gender relationships while demonstrating similarities with regard to spiritual beliefs and attitudes toward cancer. We applied our results to culturally tailor and develop a breast and cervical cancer intervention, Esperanza y Vida ™ (Hope and Life), that incorporates Latino values and social relationships. This study demonstrates that a proven education and outreach model for AA women may provide a framework for creating a culturally appropriate intervention for Latinas. Further research is needed to study the efficacy of the new model. Cancer 2007. © 2006 American Cancer Society.