The specific aims of this project are to test the utility of the community organization method in mobilizing the Hispanic population of the Yakima Valley to become involved in defining its own cancer problems and in planning approaches to deal with those problems; and to design and implement a pilot project to increase the rates of cervical cancer screening among the Hispanic women in the Yakima Valley. The project builds on an extensive community analysis conducted on the Hispanic population in Yakima County. This community analysis identified some of the important sectors in reaching various subgroups in the community, ascertained that project legitimation was vital, and affirmed that various subgroups are disparately under-served both in terms of direct health care services and in preventive health care activities. The community organization method will be tested as a way to address these disparities. A local coalition, the Hispanic Community Coalition (HCC), will be created with the assistance of a local community organizer in the Yakima Valley. The coalition will be asked to address the health problems among the Hispanic population. In return for logistic support and seed money from the program project, the HCC, in collaboration with staff from the P01, will design and implement a pilot project around cervical cancer screening for Hispanic women. Two outcomes of the project will be assessed. First did the community organization method result in the establishment of an Hispanic Community Coalition (the HCC) that has demonstrated its ability to work toward cancer control activities? Second, did the pilot cervical cancer screening project result in an increase in the number of Hispanic women who received PAP smears?
Showing the most recent 10 out of 15 publications
