Screening: Using Promotoras for Cancer Education

Step 1: Innovative cancer education. Step 2: Cancer screening. Step 3: Catching cancer at early, treatable stages. That’s the life-saving idea behind Salud San Antonio!, a new study led by IHPR researcher Dr. Cynthia Mojica. Salud San Antonio! will partner with several community groups and employ community health workers—also known as promotoras—to teach Latinos in low-income, health-problematic areas on the city’s West and South sides about breast, cervical and colorectal cancer and the benefits of cancer screening. After promotoras teach, they’ll refer Latinos for cancer screening and even help with travel to appointments, interpreting medical forms and more. The project is based on an ongoing pilot study by the same name (Salud San Antonio!), which found that many Latinas don’t know when to start their screening, and many haven’t been screened. Most eligible Latinas in the pilot study have been screened for either breast, cervical, or colorectal cancer, or are being followed-up by promotoras. The new grant will use promotoras to educate 1,800 Latino men and women a year, reduce barriers to screening services, and improve screening rates by 1,200 screenings a year at the project’s partner clinic.

Grant

PP120050 2012-15

Principle Investigators

Cynthia Mojica, IHPR at The UT Health Science Center

Co-Investigators

Daisy Morales-Campos, IHPR at The UT Health Science Center Dr. Yuanyuan Liang, The UT Health Science Center

Collaborations

CentroMed, a federally qualified health center