Cancer Courses for Nurses Working with Minority Groups

Millon Underwood, Sandra

Abstract

) This project seeks to contribute to the reduction of health disparities and cancer mortality among medically underserved African Americans (AAs) through the implementation of a series of regional cancer prevention and early detection training programs for nurse educators from the nation's historically Black colleges and universities and minority institutions (HBCU/MI). The project aims to provide HBCU/MI nurse educators: (1) didactic and simulated hands-on experience in assessing cancer risk and assessing the physical status of five anatomical sites which have a high cancer incidence rate among AAs; (2) didactic and group process related to the development of teaching/learning activities and/or modules which focus on issues, trends, and concepts related to cancer prevention and early detection among AAs; (3) didactic and group process on the specifics of planning cancer prevention and early detection teaching/learning experiences within the African American (AA) community and among AAs within the practice setting; (4) didactic and group process in the specifics of accessing state-of-the-science cancer prevention and control information using the World Wide Web; (5) opportunities to discuss strategies for integrating didactic content, thoughtful discussions, clinical/laboratory experiences, and related literature focused on cancer prevention and early detection among AAs into nursing education curricula; (6) a forum through which to discuss research efforts being facilitated by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) relative to cancer prevention and control which specifically target AA and research targeted to issues, tumor types, or problems that differentially effect AAs; (7) a forum through which to dialogue with cancer survivors about facilitators and barriers to cancer education, cancer screening, and cancer care with AA cancer survivors; (8) opportunities to establish links with national agencies and organizations which address cancer issues related to cancer prevention and control among underserved populations; and (9) instructional materials, resources, and strategies that may be used to introduce issues, trends, and concepts related to cancer prevention and early detection among AAs within nursing education curricula. The long term objectives/outcomes of the project are to: (1) increase the number of nurse educators from HBCU/MIs trained in cancer prevention and early detection; (2) increase the number of HBCU/MI nurse educators prepared to facilitate teaching and learning experiences focused on cancer prevention and early detection within the AA community or among AAs within the practice setting; (3) increase the degree to which nurse educators from HBCU/MIs integrate didactic content, thoughtful discussions, clinical/laboratory experiences, and related literature focused on cancer prevention and early detection among AAs into nursing and health education curricula; (4) increase the number of nurses educators from HBCU/MIs which maintain a current knowledge and understanding of priority research trials and research efforts facilitated by the NIH relative to cancer prevention and control among African Americans; (5) develop and disseminate teaching/learning tools that may be used by nursing educators to present issues, trends, and concepts related to cancer prevention and early detection among AAs in nursing curricula, and (6) disseminate a series of scholarly reports which highlight successful theory-based teaching/learning interventions which focus on issues, trends, and concepts related to cancer prevention and early detection among AAs. In evaluating the program objectives/outcomes a randomized split group pre-test post-test control group design will be used. The primary hypothesis to be tested will focus on the degree to which the program facilitates the integration of didactic content, thoughtful discussions, clinical/laboratory experiences, related literature, evidence-based information obtained from the