Predictors of new screening for African American men participating in a prostate cancer educational program

B23

Purpose: The study in Metropolitan Nashville (TN) was to demonstrate that a simple prostate video educational program provided in a church setting would significantly increase prostate screening rates among African-American men, who still have a greater than twofold risk of dying from prostate cancer compared to whites. Methods:This community-based intervention study employed a quasi-experimental delayed-control (cross-over) design with randomization at the church-level with 45 churches participating. African-American male project staff presented a ten-minute video coupled and a Q & A session with an African-American physician. Results:Among those men needing screening at the beginning of the study and who remained in the study through final data collection (N=152), program-related effects of significant increases in knowledge, in beliefs of the benefits of prostate cancer screening, in the perception of risk of getting prostate cancer at some time in their lifetime, and in screening specific social support occurred between the first data collection and the end of the study. Two of these variables did impact the odds of getting new screens for prostate cancer during the study period, as shown by logistic regression analyses revealing that both the level of knowledge (B=.0.61, p<.05, Exp(B)=1.84) and level of perceived risk (B=2.99, p<.01, Exp(B)=19.95) by the end of the study impacted significantly whether participants who were in need of screening got screened during the study period. In other words, a one unit increase in level of knowledge increased the odds of getting screened 1.8 times and very dramatically, a one unit increase in level of perceived risk resulted in 20 times higher odds of obtaining screening. However, the most significant predictor of screening was having insurance, which increased the odds of getting screened by nearly 25 times compared to those not having insurance (B=3.20, p<.01 , Exp(B)=24.65). Conclusions:This study demonstrated the need for education and community involvement to encourage minority men to see healthcare providers to determine the need for prostate cancer screenings and other health screenings. Importantly, study also revealed how crucial economic access is to decision-making regarding prostate cancer and possibly other health screening.