The goal of the proposed three-year Outreach Education Program for African-American Women is to establish a culturally-sensitive community- based cancer education training program for underserved African-American women, particularly in rural communities, in order to increase the availability and quality of breast and cervical cancer education outreach programs.
The specific aims of the program are to: (1) develop and implement an effective cancer education curriculum program specifically tailored for training African-American women, (2) train a minimum of 63 African-American breast and cervical cancer survivors from 21 underserved Arkansas counties to act as role models in a cancer education outreach program called the """"""""Witness Project,"""""""" (3) train a minimum of 42 African- American women from 21 underserved Arkansas counties to act as lay health educators in a cancer education outreach program called the """"""""Witness Project,"""""""" (4) make this outreach training program universally available by developing an instructional curriculum package to include videos and a training manual, and (5) assure continuation of the program after the initial funding period by integrating the training program and the outreach activities into existing screening and health programs. The proposed """"""""Witness Instructional Training"""""""" (WIT) Program is to be developed for the population of African-American women in the Mississippi River Delta counties of eastern Arkansas, and will be guided by a community- based Advisory Board. The recruitment and training will be focused through the African-American church, by African-American women who are currently active as role models and lay health educators in a breast and cervical cancer outreach education program called the """"""""Witness Project."""""""" The Witness Project, in which cancer survivors talk about their experiences in order to increase knowledge and participation in screening programs, is the foundation for the proposed training program. Role model and lay health educator trainees will complete twelve hours of training to become local outreach resources and presenters. From this training process, an instructional curriculum package, including a video and oral- based educational materials will be developed by Year 3. Numerous process and outcome evaluation measures are planned during the three years of the program.
| Erwin, Deborah O (2002) Cancer education takes on a spiritual focus for the African American faith community. J Cancer Educ 17:46-9 |
| Erwin, D O; Spatz, T S; Stotts, R C et al. (1999) Increasing mammography practice by African American women. Cancer Pract 7:78-85 |
| Erwin, D O; Spatz, T S; Stotts, R C et al. (1996) Increasing mammography and breast self-examination in African American women using the Witness Project model. J Cancer Educ 11:210-5 |
