Lessons Learned from the Young Breast Cancer Survivorship Network

Abstract

The Young Breast Cancer Survivors Network (Network) is an academic and community-based partnership dedicated to education, support, and networking. The Network used a multi-pronged approach via monthly support and networking, annual education seminars, website networking, and individual survivor consultation. Formative and summative evaluations were conducted using group survey and individual survivor interviews for monthly gatherings, annual education meetings, and individual consultation. Google Analytics was applied to evaluate website use. The Network began with 4 initial partnerships and grew to 38 in the period from 2011 to 2017. During this 5-year period, 5 annual meetings (598 attendees), 23 support and networking meetings (373), and 115 individual survivor consultations were conducted. The Network website had nearly 12,000 individual users and more than 25,000 page views. Lessons learned include active community engagement, survivor empowerment, capacity building, social media outreach, and network sustainability. The 5-year experiences with the Network demonstrated that a regional program dedicated to the education, support, networking, and needs of young breast cancer survivors and their families can become a vital part of cancer survivorship services in a community. Strong community support, engagement, and encouragement were vital components to sustain the program.

A significant portion of college students are not aware of HPV disease and HPV vaccine recommendations

“…31 Previous studies have examined racial disparities in HPV knowledge. A recent study found that HPV knowledge and awareness was significantly lower among black women than white women 18 years and older, 32 and another study found that Hispanic and non-Hispanic black women were less aware of HPV infection and vaccination, and were also less likely to report having been vaccinated, than non-Hispanic white women. 33 In our study, 75% of the respondents reported to belong to a minority group and less than 10% reported to have a great deal of knowledge of HPV transmission (9%), HPV-related conditions (7%), HPV prevention (8%) and the HPV vaccine (6%).…”

A Partnership in Health-Related Social Media for Young Breast Cancer Survivors

“…UAB boasted a thriving face-to-face evidence-based, education and support network for YBCS in Central Alabama (Gisiger-Camata, Nolan, Vo, Bail, Lewis, & Meneses, 2017). UAB’s network was locally funded and named the Young Breast Cancer Survivorship Network .…”