Introduction: Community engagement is the process of working collaboratively with groups of people, considering that approaches for their health improvement must account for their concerns. Cancer health disparities are adverse differences in cancer incidence, prevalence, mortality, survivorship, and burden or related health conditions that exist among specific population groups in the US. Low socioeconomic status (SES) is a factor that contributes to the observed cancer health disparities among racial, ethnic, and underserved groups. SES is most often based on a person's income, education level, and other factors, such as native language and household composition. The objectives of this poster are: 1) to compare the racial / ethnic composition and SES factors in Worcester, Massachusetts (MA) with MA state and US, 2) to compare SES factors by racial / ethnic groups in Worcester, MA, and 3) to discuss how community engagement research can address the contributors to cancer health disparities.

Methods: Racial/ethnic composition and SES factors were collected from the US Census Bureau.

Results: The percentage of Hispanics, non-Hispanic (NH) Blacks, and NH Asians was higher in Worcester, MA population than in MA state in 2010. In addition, the percentage of families and people whose income is below the poverty level is higher in Worcester, MA than in MA state and US. Finally, the percentage of the population of Worcester, MA that has single-parent family households, non-family householders living alone, or speaks at home a language other than English is higher than in MA state and US.

Conclusion: Community engagement research is necessary to tackle the SES factors that can contribute to cancer health disparities in Worcester, MA.

Funding: National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Health-related Research (PI Brian C. Lewis, PhD, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA).

Citation Format: Wilfredo Eugenio De Jesus-Monge, Vivianna Margarita De Jesus-Monge. Community engagement approach to address contributors to cancer health disparities in Worcester, MA. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Sixth AACR Conference: The Science of Cancer Health Disparities; Dec 6–9, 2013; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2014;23(11 Suppl):Abstract nr A74. doi:10.1158/1538-7755.DISP13-A74

©2014 American Association for Cancer Research.
2014