Abstract A40: The “Mini-Report”: Use of CBPR to create a practical tool to address lung cancer disparities in rural communities
Authors: Mueller Georgia , Zahnd Whitney , Garner Kyle , Heitkamp Ruth , Jenkins Wiley , Boehler Michael , Land Diane , Steward David 
Published: May 2015

Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) principles were used to build an academic-community partnership to address lung cancer disparities in the Healthy Southern Illinois Delta Network (HSIDN), which includes 7 community coalitions in the southernmost 16 counties in Illinois. These counties are rural and medically underserved, and compared to IL as a whole, experience notably higher rates of smoking (27.1% vs. 16.9%), and lung cancer incidence (87.8 vs. 72.6/100,000) and mortality (66.8 vs. 54.4/100,000). By involving community members in all aspects of the research process and data dissemination, health disparity factors are more effectively identified and addressed. Our goal was to translate epidemiological data into community-specific lung cancer and behavioral risk factor “mini-reports” which could be used at the local level for education, resource allocation, and targeted intervention development.

Methods: The partnership included an academic medical institution, a governmental agency, two community partners, and the HSIDN. Three work groups formed as part of the partnership infrastructure and two were vital in the development of these mini reports. The data work group (DWG) included members from the academic and governmental agency partners and was responsible for creating the reports. The CBPR work group included academic and community partners and was invaluable in providing feedback on report content, structure and intended audience suitability. Initial draft reports were based upon input from a partnership summit and DWG discussions. Draft report feedback tools were distributed to all coalition leaders in the HSIDN to assess content, display, motivation to action, and cultural appropriateness. The partnership's steering committee also provided feedback to refine the mini-reports for use at the community level.

Results: The DWG finalized two mini reports, both of which compared coalition-specific data to IL as a whole. The first report described the local cancer burden and included cancer incidence, mortality, survival by stage, population demographics, and lung cancer risk factors (e.g. smoking rates). The second report characterized the at-risk populations (e.g. veterans, those below poverty level) within the coalitions and included smoking rates by gender, youth smoking rates, and data on the effect of statewide smoke free laws on smoking rates and attitudes. Both reports used a mix of narrative text, bullet points, graphs, tables, and graphics.

Feedback from the HSIDN coalition leaders indicated the reports effectively described the cancer burden and the content, relevancy, and usefulness of the reports was appropriate. HSIDN leaders noted a wide range of future uses for these reports.

Discussion: These mini-reports translated epidemiological data for use at the community level for educational and other purposes. HSIDN use the reports for development of strategic planning, input in state-required community health plans, implementation of smoke-free initiatives, and grant writing. The creation process can serve as a template for other academic-community partnerships aiming to address cancer disparities using CBPR principles. The partnership successfully developed a series of coalition level reports to describe the local lung cancer burden and characterize risk factors to help coalitions create interventions to address disparities. The process of report creation, refinement and local dissemination was successful due to engagement of all partners (academic, government and community) and utilization of their expertise to ensure the reports could be used effectively in their communities. This in turn contributes to partnership sustainability by establishing trust for future efforts.

Citation Format: Georgia Mueller, Whitney Zahnd, Kyle Garner, Ruth Heitkamp, Wiley Jenkins, Michael Boehler, Diane Land, David Steward. The “Mini-Report”: Use of CBPR to create a practical tool to address lung cancer disparities in rural communities. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Sixth AACR Conference: The Science of Cancer Health Disparities; Dec 6–9, 2013; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2014;23(11 Suppl):Abstract nr A40. doi:10.1158/1538-7755.DISP13-A40