The Breast Cancer Education Program for the Inner City will develop, implement and evaluate a training program for outreach workers on Breast Cancer Education as a collaborative effort between the Boston Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. It builds on the Boston City Hospital Breast Cancer Screening Program for Medically Underserved Women of Boston, and will serve as a follow- up to the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Education Summit sponsored by the Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) and 15 community-based agencies.The training and materials will be conducted by DHH's Community Health Education Center. Specifically the program will develop, teach and evaluate a culturally relevant and linguistically appropriate module on breast cancer education for 100 outreach workers in Boston's inner city. These outreach workers are based in the 26 neighborhood health centers in Boston's inner city, in housing developments and community based organizations. Two levels of training will be available to outreach workers.A basic training will reach 100 outreach workers, who make approximately 5,000 outreach contacts. A more intensive 2 day training will reach 40 outreach workers and allow them to give educational parties (safety net parties) in their homes. Approximately 1,000 women will attend these parties. In total, the program will develop, deliver, evaluate and disseminate educational materials for 6,000 clients on breast cancer. The program also proposes to provide technical assistance to up to 25 organizations requesting assistance following the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Education Summit. A program evaluation will be conducted to determine the number of community women served by the intervention, the extent to which outreach worker interventions improve rates of mammography utilization among women reached by the program, and the effectiveness of outreach worker training in increasing knowledge and awareness of breast cancer and early detection.
