Research Project-3: Effectiveness of an eHealth intervention for uptake of cervical cancer screening in Hispanic women

NIH RePORTER · NIH · U54 · $192,520 · view on reporter.nih.gov ↗

Abstract

Project Summary Research has highlighted the higher incidence and mortality rates of cervical cancer among Hispanic women compared to non-Hispanic white women in the U.S. These disparities are even more pronounced when only Hispanic immigrant women are considered because of greater individual and structural barriers to health care. Effective community-based interventions are needed to address these health disparities, with the testing, implementation, and evaluation of a promotora, or a lay health advisor, as one potentially effective strategy. The overall objective of this study is to test an innovative, community-based, theory-driven, eHealth cervical cancer screening intervention delivered in a group setting to Hispanic women living in northern Florida. The primary research hypothesis is that a promotora intervention delivered electronically will increase adherence to recommendations for cervical cancer screening among Hispanic women who are not up to date (≥3 years) compared to women in a control group by over 15% favoring the intervention. The rationale that underlies the proposed research is that interventions using promotoras are a culturally appropriate, potentially effective strategy for increasing adherence to cervical cancer screening guidelines and follow-up for abnormal findings in Hispanic populations. The three specific aims are to: (1) update a previously tested small media promotora intervention (e.g., pamphlets and videos), which is designed to improve knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and accurate risk perceptions for cervical cancer and human papillomavirus and promote positive cervical cancer screening behaviors among Hispanic women; (2) test the effectiveness of the updated group-based, eHealth promotora intervention using a cluster randomized controlled trial design to increase participation in cervical cancer screening for Hispanic women who are not up to date with screening; and (3) conduct a cost- effectiveness analysis of the promotora intervention. The study will be strengthened by the establishment of a community-academic partnership. The contribution of the proposed research is expected to be the development of an effective eHealth group intervention which can be delivered by a promotora to increase screening among Hispanic immigrants in rural settings. Moreover, the intervention focuses on Hispanics who have settled in the southeastern U.S., an understudied population in terms of cancer education research. At the conclusion of the study, the following outcomes are expected: (1) refinement of a small media intervention that is evidence-based; (2) improvement in diverse community partnership networks and opportunities for building research infrastructure by working with the Community Engagement and Research Capacity cores; and (3) identification of next steps for a follow-up study, including expanding the study to include HPV self- sampling for cervical cancer screening.

Key facts

NIH application ID
11001308
Project number
2U54MD007582-39
Recipient
FLORIDA AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL UNIV
Principal Investigator
John S. Luque
Activity code
U54
Funding institute
NIH
Fiscal year
2024
Award amount
$192,520
Award type
2
Project period
1997-08-01 → 2029-03-31