As health disparities continue to plague our nation it is imperative that we find ways to reduce and eliminate this public health issue. Further, as Latinos have become the largest minority group in the United States, we must address disparities in breast and cervical cancer screening rates as well as find ways to successful reduce disparities in cancer survival. Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among Latinas; often diagnosed at advanced stages. The incidence rates for cervical cancer are higher than non-Latina white women. Latinas have faced many difficulties within the medical care system, including accessing health services. Patient navigation has become increasingly common as a way to increase adherence to treatment and more recently, as a method of increasing cancer screening. Esperanza y Vida was developed as an intervention to reach groups of women from diverse Latino backgrounds, as a culturally and linguistically appropriate approach to cancer education and screening. Following the educational component of the program, women were contacted 2-months later to determine their age-specific screening adherence status (mammography, clinical breast exam and/or Pap test). Women who were still non-adherent to screening were offered navigational assistance. Navigational services included assistance in locating bilingual services as well as free and/or low cost screening programs, logistical assistance, encouragement for screening and additional education about the importance of screening. All women were again contacted 8 months post the educational program. This presentation will focus on the outcomes following navigation. The sample included women who were reached for both the 2- and 8-month follow up assessments and received navigational services. We will demonstrate the success of navigation; of women who were non-adherent to mammography, 63% became adherent. Univariate predictors include where the programs were conducted (Arkansas, New York City and Western NY) and concurrent screening. For clinical breast exams, 61% of non-adherent women became adherent with significant predictors of program location, years living in the US, conducting breast self exams, and concurrent other screening. For Pap test, 59% of the women became adherent with significant predictors of program location, marital status, current screening and not being afraid of hear the results of medical exams. In multiple regression analyses, significant predictors of each screening test included adherence to the other screening exams, at the same time point. This is very encouraging, in that it appears that once we can connect women with clinical services, they are able to access other exams. Next steps include understanding why 40% of women still remained unscreened.

Citation Information: Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2011;20(10 Suppl):A14.