Abstract A12: Cancer communication in African American churches
Authors: Harmon Brook E. , Chastain Elizabeth , Chock Marci , Wirth Michael , Hebert James R. 
Published: May 2015

Purpose: Community settings play an important role in providing information on cancer risk and prevention, particularly among minority populations. This is especially true of African-American churches, which may be more trusted than traditional medical systems. However, it is unknown if the information provided by churches matches the disease burden present in the community. The purpose of this study was to characterize the cancer information found in African-American churches. In addition, the frequency of cancer messages was compared to state reports on the leading causes of death among African Americans to assess the effectiveness of churches in providing relevant cancer information to the community.

Methods: Health-related print media was collected from 21 African-American churches in South Carolina (SC) from June 2010 to June 2013. Collection occurred upon enrollment, at six months, and at one year. Items were pooled across churches and time points to create a sample of 2163 items for content analysis. The coding framework used in analysis had intercoder reliability of 0.89. Items were coded as pertaining to cancer in general, a specific type of cancer (i.e. breast, prostate), or another disease (i.e. HIV/AIDS, flu, diabetes). Mortality data from 2011 was obtained from the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control to serve as a measure of disease burden during the time of media collection.

Results: Of the items collected, 47% (n=1022) contained information related to a disease. Within the items coded, cancer messages were the most frequent (n=433, 42%), then heart disease (n= 146, 14%), diabetes (n = 163, 16%), hypertension and HIV/AIDS (n=109, 11%, each). Within cancer messages, information related to breast cancer was most frequent (n=166, 38%), followed by prostate cancer (n=93, 22%), cervical cancer (n=39, 9%), colorectal cancer (n=25, 6%), and lung cancer (n=19, 4%). Messages that referred to cancer in general, but not a specific site, were in 8.5% of items (n=37). The five leading causes of death among African Americans in SC were: cancer, heart disease, stroke, accidents, and diabetes. The five leading causes of cancer deaths were: lung, colorectal, breast, leukemia/lymphoma, and pancreatic. Prostate cancer was the second leading cause of cancer death among African-American men and sixth overall.

Conclusion: Cancer was a frequent topic for disease-focused messages in African-American churches. In addition, three of the five most frequent disease topics matched the leading causes of death in the African-American community. The match was not as close in regards to leading causes of cancer death. Breast and prostate cancer information was frequently found; however, despite the high rates of mortality associated with lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and leukemia/lymphoma, information on these cancers was present much less frequently. No pancreatic cancer messages were found. Disease related information was seen that included smoking cessation and bone marrow donation information, but these messages did not explicitly speak about a connection to cancer. In addition, the frequency of cancer information and types of cancer covered ranged across the churches, with some having no messages. Overall, African-American churches appear interested and motivated to provide cancer information. However, efforts to help churches refine their provision of cancer information to best meet the needs of the community is needed if churches are to be used in efforts to reduce cancer health disparities.

Citation Format: Brook E. Harmon, Elizabeth Chastain, Marci Chock, Michael Wirth, James R. Hebert. Cancer communication in African American churches. [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 A12. doi:10.1158/1538-7755.DISP13-A12