IHPR Launches Community Cancer Survey
The Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at UT Health San Antonio is launching a community-wide survey to examine how South Texans perceive cancer, their knowledge of cancer risk, and their behaviors around reducing risk.
Survey results will provide important guidance for cancer care practices, services, and research provided by the Mays Cancer Center across South Texas.
The survey, developed by IHPR Director Dr. Amelie Ramirez and the Community Outreach and Engagement team at Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio, has already reached nearly 60,000 households in the Cancer Center’s 38-county catchment area in the first of two waves over the next few months.
“This survey will help us achieve the mission of the Community Outreach and Engagement team to make sure that Mays Cancer Center research is guided by and responsive to the needs of South Texas,” Ramirez said.
The Mays Cancer Center provides cancer care, services, and research across its nearly 46,000-square-mile catchment area. This stretches from the Texas-Mexico border north to San Antonio.
Communities in this area are predominantly rural, Hispanic/Latino population, often impoverished and underserved, and face many barriers in access to health care. Residents are also at disproportionately greater risk of developing certain cancers when compared to the rest of Texas or the nation, according to the IHPR’s cancer chapter of the South Texas Health Status Review.
“The survey will help the IHPR and Community Outreach and Engagement team at Mays Cancer Center to better serve the cancer needs of the community,” Ramirez said.