Abstract B05: An evaluation of a community-based breast education and navigation program: Highlights and lessons learned from the Pitt County Breast Wellness Initiative

Background: Pitt County is located in a rural disadvantaged part of Eastern North Carolina (ENC) and maintains persistent breast cancer disparities among minority women as compared to their white counterparts. Pitt County has the highest breast cancer mortality rate among minority women in ENC, with breast cancer mortality rates for minority women being twice as high compared to their white counterparts (42.4 vs. 21.9, respectively). Furthermore, minority women are diagnosed at later stages of the disease, with the rate of diagnosis at stage 4 being almost three times higher than white women in Pitt County. The Pitt County Breast Wellness Initiative provides culturally tailored breast cancer education and navigation to age-appropriate screening services for uninsured/underinsured Black and Latina women ages 25 and older. Methods: We conducted a qualitative evaluation to assess the effectiveness of our education and navigation components. We contacted program participants via telephone and administered a structured interview guide. Out of the 85 participants that were both educated by our program and received a free mammogram and clinical breast exam, we reached 60% (n=51) of these women. Results: This funded program has created a network of 20 community-based lay breast health educators, which includes faith leaders, breast cancer survivors, community advocates, and ECU BS in Public Health students. In a span of 2 years, we have educated over 600 women in eastern North Carolina (ENC) on breast health and breast cancer screening guidelines, and navigation services have been provided to 275 women, of whom 230 were given breast health assessments and 85 received a mammogram. We have identified five lessons learned to share in the successful implementation of a community-based cancer screening intervention: (1) community partnerships are critical for successful community-based cancer screening interventions; (2) assuring access to screening and appropriate follow-up should precede interventions to promote increased use of cancer screening; (3) the reduction of access barriers is effective in increasing cancer screening; (4) culturally tailored interventions can overcome barriers to screening for diverse racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups; and (5) multicomponent interventions that include multiple community-health strategies are effective in increasing screening. Up-to-date results from program participants will be reported during the presentation. Conclusion: Although PCBWI can improve, we have been successful at increasing knowledge and screening for our population. Future community-based interventions must go beyond the overall assessment of effectiveness and expand current understanding of why given strategies are effective and analyze the cost-effectiveness of these strategies, to ensure replicability and sustainability. Citation Format: Essie Torres, Alice Richman. An evaluation of a community-based breast education and navigation program: Highlights and lessons learned from the Pitt County Breast Wellness Initiative [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Tenth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2017 Sep 25-28; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2018;27(7 Suppl):Abstract nr B05.