Abstract A67: Addressing rural disparities: Community outreach to assess the need for cancer prevention, screening, and access to treatment in rural Utah
Authors: Morales Jennyffer , Lopez Ana Maria , Harding Garrett , Yancy Jeff , Branson Donna 
Published: March 2017

Background/Purpose

The purpose of this study is to collect community health needs assessment data specific to rural Utah as part of designing tailored prevention and education programs. Cancer prevention, screening, and access to treatment in Rural Utah presents a unique set of challenges. Utah is a large state with vast and sparsely populated areas. More than 96% of the state is defined as either rural (&lt;100 persons/sq. mile) or frontier (&lt;7 persons/sq. mile). In Utah, these populations contend with great distances from academic health care centers, lack of ready access to care, and lack of education and available reliable health information; resulting in poor cancer health outcomes, lower cancer screening rates, and higher rates of tobacco use.

Since 1999, Community Outreach and Prevention Education (COPE) at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) has successfully disseminated information about cancer prevention to &gt;1 million people. With funding from the National Cancer Institute, HCI has expanded COPE efforts to address known cancer disparities in 4 identified Utah health districts via a Community Health Educator (CHE).

The first phase of the three-year grant is underway. Data collection methods, and findings will be described.

Methods

The COPE program expansion targets Tooele, Tri-County, Central, and Southeastern Utah health districts. Each have poor rankings in cancer mortality, early detection, and health behaviors, with limited contact from HCI's research, clinical, and education programs. The 3 phases of expansion include:

• Year 1: partnership building, community health needs assessment (CHNA)

• Year 2: evidence-based intervention strategies, program implementation

• Year 3: program evaluation, sustainability

During year 1, knowledge, beliefs, intentions, and behaviors related to cancer prevention and screening were collected via stakeholder interviews, focus groups with community members, short surveys, and follow-up e-mail/telephone questionnaires. The CDCynergy Lite planning model and theory of planned behavior guided the CHNA instruments.

Results/Findings

Rural data and outcomes from community members and key stakeholders will be shared.

Discussion

The results of the CHNA will contribute to evidence-based intervention strategies and will be used to implement tailored and culturally appropriate programs to improve these needs and evaluate effectiveness. Results/findings from year 1 also provide opportunities for HCI researchers and other community organizations to expand their work in the targeted districts.

Citation Format: Jennyffer Morales, Ana Maria Lopez, Garrett Harding, Jeff Yancy, Donna Branson. Addressing rural disparities: Community outreach to assess the need for cancer prevention, screening, and access to treatment in rural Utah. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Ninth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2016 Sep 25-28; Fort Lauderdale, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2017;26(2 Suppl):Abstract nr A67.