UICC World Cancer Congress 2006

Objective: To identify effective strategies for colorectal cancer education, screening and early detection within public health prevention programs; To assess the effectiveness of culturally tailored interventions, primary care referrals and community outreach in reaching low-income populations for colorectal cancer screenings; Methods: A comprehensive colorectal cancer screening and early detection program was implemented targeting low-income and uninsured populations. Components of the program were targeted media campaigns, community outreach and education, free colonoscopy screenings, patient navigation, case management, follow-up and treatment. The program additionally sponsored culturally tailored outreach to provide outreach and patient navigation for the African American, Asian American and Latino populations in the region. The referral partners were primary care physicians serving low income and uninsured populations, five community hospitals, and African American, Asian American and Latino community-based organizations. Results: Colonoscopy completion rates were highest among referrals from primary care physicians and clinic settings for all the three population groups (63-68%); Among the Latino population, rates of completion was highest among participants that were referred from a culturally tailored health promoter model (72%); Rates of colonoscopy completion were lowest among the African American populations (6%); A culturally tailored Asian patient navigation program was successful in providing referrals and completing colonoscopy screenings (46%); Overall colonoscopy screening completion rates for the three populations were African Americans (36.3%), Asian Americans (43.9%) and Latinos (57.5%) Further research studies need to be done to identify factors influencing the decisions to complete colorectal cancer screenings among the three population groups.