Abstract B040: Promoting liver cancer awareness and prevention initiative in underserved racial/ethnic minority populations via community-based participatory research strategies
Authors: Lu Wenyue , Zhu Lin , Zhu Di , Gonzalez Evelyn , Fraser Marilyn A. , Yeh Ming-chin , Zhu Steven , Ma Grace X. , Ogunwobi Olorunseun O. , Tan Yin 
Published: January 2023

Background Hispanic, Asian, and African Americans experience greater burden of liver cancer, and research has shown that these three populations experience multiple level barriers to liver cancer awareness and prevention. Chronic infections with hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) are the most common risk factors of liver cancer. As a critical component of The Synergistic Partnership for Enhancing Equity in Cancer Health (SPEECH), Community Outreach Core (COC) aims to (1) strengthen community engagement in cancer outreach research through evidence-based community cancer education initiatives and outreach activities, and (2) provide a robust and sustainable community-based participatory research (CBPR) infrastructure for the SPEECH Partnership. Objectives This presentation aims to describe the use of CBPR principles and how these methods impacted the planning and implementation of multilevel community initiatives on liver cancer prevention through community engagement to address liver cancer disparities in low-income, underserved minority communities.  Methods Guided by CBPR principles and built on well-established collaboration with community-based organizations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York City, the COC team actively engaged community advisory board (CAB), healthcare workers, and community members in multiple phases of (1) liver cancer prevention educational initiative, (2) city-wide bus campaign with on-bus posters advertising HBV/HCV screening and liver cancer prevention, and (3) community health fairs, in which information and education about HBV, HCV, and liver cancer was provided to the community member attendees. Results The educational workshops in the community initiative significantly improved community members’ knowledge about HBV/HCV, behaviors on HBV/HCV screening, as well as dietary patterns. Specifically, 21% of the patients who did not have an HBV test at baseline had a test at 6 months, while 11% of the patients who did not have an HCV test at baseline had a test at 6 months. In the bus campaign, the COC team collected evaluation forms from bus riders. Among the 173 respondents, 22.7% reported seeing the ad. Riders who saw the ad were significantly more likely to get screened for HBV/HCV than those who did not (86.5% vs 58.3%). Regarding the community health fair, among 44 participants who received our on-site education, 77.3% of them reported that they would talk to their doctors about getting HBV/HCV screenings. The comprehensive engagement of CAB, healthcare workers, and community members significantly benefited community capacity building on cancer research and health promotion. Conclusions Our findings indicate that CBPR-guided community initiative, campaign, and health fairs have remarkable positive impacts on promoting liver cancer awareness and prevention among underserved racial/ethnic minorities. Moreover, community participation was built on trust and previous relationships, which would finally empower the community with increased health promotion capacity.

Citation Format: Wenyue Lu, Lin Zhu, Di Zhu, Evelyn Gonzalez, Marilyn A. Fraser, Ming-chin Yeh, Steven Zhu, Grace X. Ma, Olorunseun O. Ogunwobi, Yin Tan. Promoting liver cancer awareness and prevention initiative in underserved racial/ethnic minority populations via community-based participatory research strategies [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 15th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2022 Sep 16-19; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2022;31(1 Suppl):Abstract nr B040.