The Breast Cancer Program of the Meyer L. Prentis Comprehensive Cancer Center of Metropolitan Detroit proposes to develop a combined laboratory and behavioral research program with the ultimate aim of reducing mortality due to breast cancer in elderly African-American women of Detroit. Collaborating institutes include the Institute of Gerontology and the Center for Urban Studies of Wayne State University. Research hypotheses relevant to prevention-early detection strategies will be tested through our already extensive Breast Cancer Behavioral Research Resource Network. Results obtained in the field will be fed back to laboratory and behavioral scientists for analysis and further generation of hypotheses. Ultimate evaluation of our efforts will be provided by ongoing breast cancer incidence data from the Detroit Population-Based Cancer Registry, one of the registries of the NCI-SEER network.
Our Specific Aims are: (1) To establish an interactive Working Group of laboratory and behavioral scientists with collective expertise in aging, breast cancer biology, in assessment of breast cancer risk, in breast cancer screening and detection, in Community-based health care delivery, in modification of community acceptability of preventive health strategies, and in strategies to access and evaluate participation of elderly, African-American Women in breast cancer prevention and screening programs. (2) To define and implement a series of pilot programs designed to establish a research base for community-based intervention strategies; a. to develop preliminary date to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed research in order to be competitive for traditional research funding; b. to translate research results into useful strategies for breast cancer prevention/early detection programs targeted to the economically- disadvantaged, medically underserved, elderly population of Detroit African-American women; c. to evaluate the efficiency of research- generated education and intervention strategies in regard to: (1) ability to develop and implement these strategies; (2) ability to access target populations; (3) ability to affect breast cancer experience in target populations: short-term by increasing the proportion of cancers detected in Stage 1; long-term by decreasing the mortality due to breast cancer.
