Abstract
Abstract Introduction: Patient navigation is emerging as a strategy for addressing barriers to cancer screening among African Americans; however, navigation should address the specific needs and barriers to obtaining screening. The purpose of this study was to identify navigation needs for cancer screening in a community-based sample of African American men and women. Methods: Participants were enrolled in an observational study of community-based navigation for cancer control. Eligibility criteria were African American men and women aged 50-75 years who resided in the Philadelphia, PA metropolitan area, and had no personal history or symptoms of prostate, breast and colon cancer. The main outcome variable was navigation needs for cancer screening. The exposure variables that were assessed were socioeconomic characteristics, sociocultural factors such perceived risk of developing cancer and future temporal orientation and perceptions of social integration, and history of family members with cancer. Chi square tests and analysis of variance were utilized to assess the associations between potential factors and identified barriers. Results: A total of 268 participants were enrolled in the study and of these, 161 (60%) identified navigation needs for cancer screening: cost/lack of insurance (66, 25%), ignorance/lack of knowledge (73, 27%) and provider issues (22, 8%). The main barrier identified by participants that were younger (<56 years) was cost/lack of insurance (51%) while the main barrier identified by older participants (>56 years) was ignorance/lack of knowledge (47%), [p: 0.04]. Most participants (63%) who had a higher perception of developing breast or prostate cancer identified ignorance/lack of knowledge as barrier to screening while most participants (51%) who had a higher perception of developing colon cancer had cost/lack of insurance as barrier to colon cancer screening, [p: 0.01]. Conclusions: Findings from this study suggest that navigation for cancer screening may need to address lack of knowledge and cost/lack of health insurance. Navigation programs for cancer screening may need to address different needs depending on the age and perceived risk of participants.
Citation Format: Oluwole A Babatunde, Melanie Jefferson, Jerry C Johnson, Chanita Hughes-Halbert. Navigation needs among African Americans [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2019 Sep 20-23; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(6 Suppl_2):Abstract nr C097.
