Purpose: Cervical cancer is detected among more than 12,000 women, annually. Some age groups are affected disproportionately, at nearly 25% higher rates of new cases than other women. Following recommended pap screening guidelines, cervical cancer can essentially be eliminated. Likewise, when breast cancer is detected at earlier stages the greater the likelihood of 5-year survival, 98%. The See, Test & Treat® Houston screening model provides free breast and cervical cancer screenings with same-day results to communities identified as underserved.

Methods: Through a multidisciplinary volunteer collaboration, this novel screening model targeted medically underserved women between ages 21-65 with 1) breast and cervical cancer screenings, 2) same-day results, 3) health education counseling, 4) and the connection to follow-up care in a culturally and linguistically competent setting at no cost to the women served.

Results: Over 750 women attended the free special screening programs over a 3-year period. Of those that participated, 673 women who had never or rarely been screened received a pelvic and breast examination and a Pap test through the program. Of these women, 55 had abnormal Pap tests and 28 of these underwent same day colposcopy and 9 completed a LEEP. Seventy-six mammograms were performed. Two Breast Fine Needle Aspirations were provided on-site for women with a palpable breast mass. Four breast malignancies were detected. The population served were predominately minorities, low income, uninsured or under-insured, and between 40-49 years.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that additional dissemination of same-day screen, result and treat models are promising to reach demographics most affected by breast and cervical cancer disparities. As health seeking behavior plays a pivotal role in the outcome of any disease, including a health education component in all screening programs can continue to promote proactive preventive screening seeking behaviors and better provision of culturally-sensitive community screening programs.

Citation Format: Jameisha B. Brown. Increasing access to cancer prevention and early detection screenings among racial/ethnic minorities: An innovative same-day result model. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eighth AACR Conference on The Science of Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; Nov 13-16, 2015; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2016;25(3 Suppl):Abstract nr B67.

©2016 American Association for Cancer Research.
2016
American Association for Cancer Research.