Esperanza y Vida: Training Lay Health Advisors and Cancer Survivors to Promote Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening in Latinas

Abstract

The use of lay health advisors (LHAs) to promote community-based health education programs is well documented and is considered an effective way to reach underserved communities. Esperanza y Vida (Hope & Life) is an educational outreach program to increase breast and cervical cancer screening for diverse Latinas. It incorporates Latino LHAs (men and women) and cancer survivor role models, sobrevivientes, in the program delivery. An interactive training program, conducted by bilingual staff across three sites (Little Rock, Arkansas; Buffalo, New York and New York City) included 74 sobrevivientes and LHAs who were recruited and trained. All training attendees completed an initial application assessing socio-demographics, experience and availability as well as, true/false surveys at the beginning (pre-) and end of the training (post-) measuring knowledge levels of breast and cervical cancer health. Data analysis indicated a significant increase of both breast and cervical cancer knowledge for attendees trained as LHAs (pre = 60%; post = 80%; p = 0.000), whereas sobrevivientes had a higher baseline knowledge of breast health (74%), and therefore did not show a significant increase following training (79%). However, sobrevivientes did display a significant increase in cervical cancer knowledge (p = 0.003). These findings demonstrate the impact of training and how LHAs may be recruited at different levels of knowledge and experience and be successfully trained in key program elements. Moreover, results indicate that sobrevivientes may be impacted differently, or require variations in training approaches. This information can be useful in developing and customizing curriculum for future lay health training programs.

Cancer Screening Behaviors Among Latina Women: The Role of the Latino Male

“…It explores how Latino males might positively or negatively influence their partners' decision to adopt early detection strategies, and concludes with a summary of the barriers captured across sites. Outcomes from the study related to Latinas and screening is published elsewhere [18,23,24].…”

Increasing Cervical Cancer Screening Among US Hispanics/Latinas: A Qualitative Systematic Review

“…Eight interventions were based exclusively or partly in Texas [11, 51–54, 56, 67, 68, 70, 83, 91, 92], seven in California [11, 54, 63–65, 85, 87, 88, 93], six in Arizona [59–61, 73, 74, 77, 78, 84, 94], four in New York [57, 58, 80, 81, 83, 89, 90, 93], and two in Washington state [70–72]. Additional intervention sites included Colorado [86], New Mexico [11, 54], Arkansas [57, 58, 80, 81], Illinois [55], Virginia [69], Pennsylvania [66], Florida [62], Georgia [75, 76], and Alabama [79].…”

“…Eight interventions were based exclusively or partly in Texas [11, 51–54, 56, 67, 68, 70, 83, 91, 92], seven in California [11, 54, 63–65, 85, 87, 88, 93], six in Arizona [59–61, 73, 74, 77, 78, 84, 94], four in New York [57, 58, 80, 81, 83, 89, 90, 93], and two in Washington state [70–72]. Additional intervention sites included Colorado [86], New Mexico [11, 54], Arkansas [57, 58, 80, 81], Illinois [55], Virginia [69], Pennsylvania [66], Florida [62], Georgia [75, 76], and Alabama [79]. The interventions included one-time intervention sessions or activities [57, 58, 62, 68, 72, 77, 78, 80–82, 88, 90, 94]; multiple-session or multiple-contact programs [11, 54, 59–61, 63–66, 73–76, 79, 84]; and programs with ongoing activities over a specified period of time, such as media campaigns, system protocol changes, or materials distribution [51–53, 55, 56, 67, 67, 69, 72, 83, 85–87, 89, 91–93].…”

The Yo me cuido® Program: Addressing Breast Cancer Screening and Prevention Among Hispanic Women

“…A host of programs have been designed and implemented to address breast cancer prevention and early detection, as well as healthy lifestyles, among Hispanic women [18,[28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. These programs have utilized evidence-based health education and community outreach methods (e.g., client reminders, media campaign, multilingual education materials, individualized education, and access issues [costs and availability]) to increase participation, enhance knowledge of cancer, and increase screening behaviors [19].…”

“…Many community-based programs and research efforts have set forth basic tenets for working with Hispanic communities, namely recognizing the impacts of cultural characteristics such as respeto (respecting of cultural norms, roles, expectations, and community), personalismo (establishing personal relationships where individuals feel that one cares about them as a human being and their specific problems and needs), confianza (creating an environment of trust where individuals feel that they can count on one not to take advantage of them, and that one has their best interest at heart-an open book), simpatía (feeling liked, admired, and understood, and that one is genuinely concerned for them), and familia (working with Hispanic communities should generally be understood as a family and community experience, and where collaborative partnerships with community-based organizations serving these communities is paramount) [28,[37][38][39]. Although these tenets are discussed in similar programs they are not highlighted as a foundation for working with Hispanic populations [18,[29][30][31][32][33][34]. YMC is a program molded into one that is personal, intimate, interpersonal, culturally-based, and designed to make the participants feel special and valued, like part of an extended family.…”