Abstract
Engaging partners in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of cancer education programs is critical for improving the health of our communities. A 2-year pilot education intervention on prostate cancer decision making and participation in medical research was funded by the National Cancer Institute. The partnership involving community members and clinical staff at a cancer center was used to develop recruitment strategies and plan for the implementation of the intervention with African-American middle-age and older men and female family members. We assessed partners’ perceptions of this community–academic–clinical research collaboration. In year 2, eight project advisory council members were selected among existing partners and year 1 participants to serve as a formal committee. Council members were required to participate in telephone and in person meetings and actively support recruitment/implementation efforts. At the conclusion of the project, 20 individuals (all clinical and community partners, including the eight advisory council members) were invited to complete a survey to assess their perceived impact of the collaboration on the community and provide suggestions for future collaborations. Most partners agreed that their organization benefitted from the collaboration and that various aspects of the advisory council process (e.g., both formal and informal communication) worked well. The most noted accomplishment of the partnership related to leveraging the collaboration to make men more knowledgeable about prostate cancer decision making. Suggested improvements for future collaborations included distributing more frequent updates regarding project successes. Evaluating partners’ perceptions of this collaboration provided important recommendations for future planning, implementation, and evaluation of community-based cancer education programs.
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Acknowledgments
Funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Community Networks Program Centers U54 CA153461 (PI: Hébert; Pilot Project Leader: Friedman). Partially supported by an Established Investigator Award in Cancer Prevention and Control from the Cancer Training Branch of the NCI to J.R. Hébert (K05 CA136975). We gratefully acknowledge Dr. Dan B. Fried, MD, Dr. Drew Monitto, MD, Renee Romberger, Sharon Bartelt, Sonya Lovett, DeLisa Dawkins, Dawn Skaggs, Bruce Grant, Noel Kinnard, Tracey Thomas, Andre McCullough, Joyce Wallace, Nancy Waddell, Jacqueline Talley, the advisory council, partners, and study participants.
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Friedman, D.B., Owens, O.L., Jackson, D.D. et al. An Evaluation of a Community–Academic–Clinical Partnership to Reduce Prostate Cancer Disparities in the South. J Canc Educ 29, 80–85 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-013-0550-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-013-0550-5