Arkansans are at greater risk of developing and dying from cancers of the lung, head and neck, breast, and prostate than most Americans. We propose to establish the Arkansas Special Populations Access Network (ASPAN) to foster or expand partnerships with community organizations and to promote cancer control activities throughout the state. The specific goals of ASPAN include the following. 1)Increase cancer control activities in Arkansas' underserved and minority populations by 15 percent each year with an initial emphasis in three regions of the state. This will be accomplished through community collaborations that build awareness, increase screening, promote minority participation in treatment trials, and develop research priorities. 2) Increase the number of African American scientists by 40 percent over 5 years, and investigator-initiated research projects involved in minority cancer control and clinical research in Arkansas by 60 percent over 5 years through enhancement of community and institutional infrastructure """"""""pipelines"""""""" for recruitment and development of minority scientists. 3) Enhance and increase minority accrual to clinical treatment and prevention trials by 78 percent over 5 years through the development of recruitment models and community collaborations, and through the modification of the institutional infrastructure. In order to focus the proposed resources into the areas of greatest need in the state, three specific areas will be the primary geographic focus for ASPAN through Phase I. These areas are 1)the Delta; 2)Central Arkansas, and 3)Northwest Arkansas. These regions include communities of individuals (African Americans; rural, low income Caucasians, including elderly; lower income; underserved urban Caucasians; and the small, growing population of Hispanics) with significant risk factors and challenges for cancer control. Several theoretical models are incorporated into the design and implementation of our proposed network and related cancer control activities. Evaluation includes quantitative and qualitative process and outcome measures.
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