Our Research
Challenges for Cancer Patients
Significant challenges cancer patients face is limited access to cancer care, driven critically by issues with the non-medical drivers of health.
These barriers include health insurance, access to care, financial strain, food insecurity, transportation, income, education, health literacy, and language.
As a result, there is a heavy burden of cancer incidence, cancer morbidity/mortality, decreased quality of life, and elevated healthcare costs in South Texas.
Challenges in South Texas
In South Texas, home to nearly 5 million people (69% Latino), 25 of 38 counties are rural and 96% are designated as “primary care shortage areas,” highlighting them as one of the poorest and most in need of medical attention in the nation.
South Texans also face significantly higher risks for: liver cancer (64%), cervical cancer (46%), gallbladder cancer (8%), stomach/gastric cancer (4%), and pediatric leukemia (32%).
How is the ACS Avanzando Center Addressing These Challenges?
The ACS Avanzando Center, funded by the American Cancer Society and based at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio, is working to build a collaborative environment with the community to address non-medical drivers of health-focused research careers and mentoring, resources to assess patients’ non-medical drivers of health and respond to needs, and action for changes to build health.
Key non-medical drivers of health targeted by the ACS Avanzando Center include:
- Lack of health insurance (30% uninsured in STX; 23% in Texas).
- Financial strain (25% live in poverty in STX; 15.8% in Texas).
- Low income (22% earn less than 150% of the federal poverty line in STX; 14.9% in Texas).
- Limited access to care (44.8% lack a usual source of healthcare in STX; 31.9% in Texas).
- Low education levels (30% are not high-school graduates in STX; 16.3% in Texas).
- Language barriers (41% speak Spanish as their primary language in STX; 29.3% in Texas).
Areas of action for the ACS Avanzando Center include:
- Conduct three scholar-led research projects to address the local cancer burden with regard for non-medical drivers of health. Each project will regularly engage with the Community Advisory Board (CAB) and benefit from centralized Center support for screening for the non-medical drivers of health, biostatistics, navigation, and communication. Host scholar meetings organized by the Avanzando Center. Research scholars will each identify challenges and opportunities to help problem-solve and share cross-cutting themes generated by their projects.
- Implement a system change for screening for the non-medical drivers of health in UTHSA’s and MCC’s electronic health record system to systematically assess patients for non-medical drivers of health and automatically activate follow-up by the Center’s Health Navigators (HNs), who will connect them with the institutional and community resources needed and facilitate coordinated care through partnerships with community organizations, clinics, and Federally Qualified Health Centers.
- Engage research scholars and community in education and promotion of changes that improve issues with the non-medical drivers of health through local implementation of a national and local health communication program.
- Create a tailored mentoring program, webinar series, and connection to local/national mentoring resources to enhance scholars and researchers understanding and incorporation of non-medical drivers of health assessments and health promotion in their future cancer research.
