Abstract B52: Utilizing media to reduce the burden of cervical cancer in Little Haiti: A community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach
Authors: Frett Brigitte , Aquino Myra , Fatil Marie , Fievre Michele , LaPierre James , Trevil Dinah , Carrasquillo Olveen , Kobetz Erin 
Published: May 2015

This video project is part of a larger, ongoing Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR) initiative aimed to reduce the burden of cervical cancer among Haitian women living in South Florida. Haitian women in this region, particularly those who reside in Little Haiti, the largest enclave of Haitian settlement in the United States, experience excess cervical cancer incidence and mortality. Since 2004 key community stakeholders, community health workers, and academic investigators from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine (UMMSM) have worked collaboratively to address this disparity through complementary, community-based primary and secondary prevention efforts. The partnership has also enabled an in-depth exploration of the risk factors and risk conditions that account, in large part, for the high rate of cervical cancer observed in Little Haiti, including socioeconomic marginalization, language barriers, distrust of researchers, humoral conceptions of illness, and immigration status. Successful prevention efforts must address these multiple barriers to ensure timely screening and treatment for cervical cancer among women in Little Haiti. The United States Preventative Services Task Force recommends Pap screening every 3 years for women 21-65 while the Community Preventative Services Task Force recommends the use of small media including videos and printed materials to promote knowledge of and action on cervical cancer screening. Blending these recommendations with the knowledge obtained through nearly ten-years of campus-community collaboration, we created two ten-minute educational films on cervical cancer prevention for a Haitian audience. The films focus on prevention through HPV vaccination and Pap testing. The dialogue is exclusively in Haitian Kreyol with English subtitles. The films were written and produced by a Haitian writer and producer, with significant community input, star Kreyol-speaking actors, and incorporate medical and public health knowledge shared by the UMMSM partners. Reflective of community feedback regarding how to best structure health messages, the films revolve around a storyline of a Haitian family and how they approach a cervical cancer diagnosis and options for screening and prevention. The films address specific issues that have been raised over the course of the CBPR project including clarifying the difference between HPV and HIV, discussing the HPV vaccine and its unfounded association with sexual promiscuity, and the proactive role Haitian men can play in promoting cervical cancer awareness within the community at large. As we enter the dissemination phase of the project, our community advisory board and production team will collaborate to optimize a plan for circulating the videos throughout Little Haiti, including pairing viewing with ongoing screening and vaccination efforts. Via the internet, the videos will be made available to other Haitian audiences throughout the United States and around the world to promote widespread awareness and action on cervical cancer. These videos are a novel approach to cervical cancer prevention among Haitian women that draw on community knowledge to ensure cultural and linguistic relevance. Because Haitian Kreyol is traditionally a spoken language whose orthography was only recently solidified, this video approach shows particular promise in reaching a monolingual Kreyol-speaking audience to better promote cervical cancer prevention efforts in Little Haiti, Haiti, and throughout the Haitian Diaspora.

Citation Format: Brigitte Frett, Myra Aquino, Marie Fatil, Michele Fievre, James LaPierre, Dinah Trevil, Olveen Carrasquillo, Erin Kobetz. Utilizing media to reduce the burden of cervical cancer in Little Haiti: A community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach. [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 B52. doi:10.1158/1538-7755.DISP13-B52