On September 2017, Hurricanes Irma and Mara devastated the Caribbean region, particularly Puerto Rico (PR), causing widespread destruction and resulting in massive resource losses and high economics costs. During the emergency recovery phase, research activities were limited, which lead to a disruption in ongoing cancer prevention and control initiatives that were being implemented with the aim to decrease the burden of cancer health disparities in the island. Despite our significant impact on community engagement, outreach, and training, the impact of Hurricane Mara in September 2017 and its aftermath affected significantly our recruitment, follow-up completion, and the evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of our project Salud!, Por la Vida. Given that the recruitment venues for our program (Federally Health Qualified Clinics (FQHCs)) served as emergency operation centers, study recruitment has been delayed. As of December 1st, 2018, we have completed 47% of the recruitment. Therefore, the request for funds under the Supplement to Recover Losses Due to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria Under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (PA-18-936) is to support the completion of the behavioral trial. Therefore, the aims for this supplement are to complete the recruitment of the group for the randomized intervention trial (377 participants) to assess the effectiveness of the intervention on Colorectal Cancer Screening (CRCS) completion (aim 1) and to assess the cost- effectiveness and budget impact of the CRCS intervention (aim 2). If granted, this project will provide a much-needed support to increase CRCS among vulnerable populations and will help increase awareness of the importance of resuming screening practices as now the island continues to recover from the catastrophic impact.
The Puerto Rico Community Cancer Control Outreach Program (CCCOP), a core program focused on cancer prevention and community engagement in Puerto Rico, seeks to continue the recruitment efforts of the behavioral trial ?Salud!, Por la Vida?, which aims to increase colorectal cancer (CRC) screening among non-adherent men and women older than 50 years old in Puerto Rico. Due to the detrimental effect of Hurricanes Irma and Mara, research efforts were disrupted during our emergency and recovery period. Support under this administrative supplement would allow us to complete the recruitment of study participants (n=371) and their respective follow-up 4 months after recruitment, which is part of the trial. Additionally, we will devote time to statistical analyses, interpretation of the findings, as well as manuscript and proposal development.
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