The SHARED Project: A Novel Approach to Engaging African American Men to Address Lung Cancer Disparities

Abstract

Black men are disproportionately impacted by lung cancer morbidity and mortality. Low-dose helical computed tomography (LDCT) lung cancer screening has demonstrated benefits for reducing lung cancer deaths by identifying cancers at earlier, more treatable stages. Despite the known benefits, LDCT screening is underutilized in black men. Studies in racially heterogeneous populations have found correlations between screening behaviors and factors such as physician trust, physician referral, and a desire to reduce the uncertainty of not knowing if they had lung cancer; yet little is known about the factors that specifically contribute to screening behaviors in black men. Community engagement strategies are beneficial for understanding barriers to health-care engagement. One community engagement approach is the citizen scientist model. Citizen scientists are lay people who are trained in research methods; they have proven valuable in increasing communities’ knowledge of the importance of healthy behaviors such as screening, awareness of research, building trust in research, and improving study design and ethics. This paper proposes an intervention, grounded in community-based participatory research approaches and social network theory, to engage black men as citizen scientists in an effort to increase lung cancer screening in black men. This mixed-methods intervention will examine the attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs of black men related to uptake of evidence-based lung cancer screening.

An open innovation approach to co-produce scientific knowledge: an examination of citizen science in the healthcare ecosystem

“…Soft interventions complement hard mechanisms and are intended to act on the attitudes and behaviors of citizen scientists, encouraging them to enter a durable co-producing relationship with expert scientist (Ashepet et al , 2021). Soft initiatives involve empowering lay people to participate in citizen science projects through training activities aimed at increasing the individual and collective awareness of their potential contribution in scientific research (Watson et al , 2020), building fair relationships based on trust and loyalty amongst citizen scientists and expert scientists (Rodríguez-Gómez et al , 2019), and tackling social and cultural factors that may trigger a limited involvement of underserved groups of the population in citizen science projects (Fiske et al , 2019). It is worth noting that digital tools may establish a bridge between hard and soft mechanisms, creating a positive environment for lay people involvement in citizen science through gamification (Cigarini et al , 2018) and edutainment (Laut et al , 2015).…”

Lung Cancer Disparities Outcomes: The Urgent Need for Narrowing Care Gaps

“…Additional interventions using lay health navigators to decrease disparities in lung cancer care are ongoing. 14 The study by Charlot et al 15 in the article that accompanies this editorial reports the impact of a multilevel intervention, the Accountability for Cancer Care through Undoing Racism (ACCURE), on surgical delays (defined as . 8 weeks from diagnosis) among Black versus White patients with stage I and II nonsmall-cell lung cancer.…”

“…Additional interventions using lay health navigators to decrease disparities in lung cancer care are ongoing. 14…”

Democratic and ethical problem of lung cancer screening: exclusion of true high-risk populations. Can it be fixed? Yes

“…In the USA, where CT screening for lung cancer has been approved and reimbursed for several years, it has been underused, due to social disparities and other factors. 6 …”

“…In the USA, where CT screening for lung cancer has been approved and reimbursed for several years, it has been underused, due to social disparities and other factors. 6 Norway is a country where people do not smoke too much. Still, one person dies from lung cancer every 4 hours.…”