Charles R. Rogers, PhD, MPH, MS, CHES? long-term career goal is to become an independent researcher who utilizes community-based approaches to develop, implement, and evaluate culture-specific interventions to eliminate cancer disparities among African-American men. The training, research, and scholarship activities facilitated by this National Cancer Institute (NCI) Mentored Research Scientist Development Award to Promote Diversity (K01) will provide Dr. Rogers with the protected time to obtain the training essential for achieving his long-term career goal. The three key training areas for this K01 include instrument development and validation, mixed methods research, and intervention development and evaluation. A three-pronged approach has been developed by Rogers to reach his long-term career goal and complete his K01 plan, including: 1) a stellar team of interdisciplinary mentors and collaborators who will guide his research and career development; 2) an innovative research study integrated with his training goals that is both rigorous in its design and scientifically relevant; and 3) didactic coursework, professional exchanges, and workshops that build upon existing resources of the University of Minnesota Medical School and its NCI-designated Masonic Cancer Center. The purpose of Dr. Rogers? research plan involves developing and pilot testing a theory-driven, culture-specific intervention that specifically targets masculinity barriers care and colorectal cancer (CRC) uptake among African-American men (ages 45-75). CRC is preventable as screening leads to identification and removal pre-cancerous polyps; however, African-American men consistently have the highest CRC mortality rates across all gender and racial/ethnic groups; and their CRC screening uptake remains low for uncertain reason. Contributing factors are etiologically complex, yet but culture-specific masculinity barriers to care may contribute to low CRC screening uptake among African-American men. Examining masculinity barriers to care is vital as CRC screening may challenge some cultural role expectations and self-representations of African-American men whose tendency is to delay help-seeking medical care. The study?s specific aims are to: 1) develop, validate, and test a culture- specific measure of masculinity barriers to care relative to CRC screening uptake among African-American men; and 2) develop and pilot test a theory-driven, culture-specific intervention that targets masculinity barriers to care, psychosocial factors, and CRC screening uptake among African-American men. Barbershops are historically known as culturally appropriate and trusted venues in African-American communities, and are critical for this research as they provide a pathway for reaching African-American men with masculinity barriers to care who are not regularly receiving healthcare services, and in particular, CRC screening. The proposed study and integrated training plan well-position Dr. Rogers to launch an independent investigator career focused on informing culture-specific interventions to eliminate cancer inequities among African-American men.
African-American men have colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence and mortality rates 27% and 52% higher than non-Hispanic white men, and the highest rates among across all gender and racial/ethnic groups. Though contributing factors to CRC screening inequalities among African-American men are etiologically complex, few studies have examined the effects of masculinity barriers to care on CRC screening uptake among African- American men. This research proposes to design and pilot test a theory-driven, culture-specific intervention on masculinity barriers to care to improve CRC screening uptake among African-American men (ages 45-75).
