African American men in Cuyahoga County have a 60% higher risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer and an 80% greater risk of dying from prostate cancer compared to white men, who according to data from the Cancer Comprehensive Case Center.
With a new $ 2.75 million, three-year grant from the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation, researchers at the Case Western Reserve Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University will collaborate with a team of community partners in a different way to fight against this health difference.
The Cleveland African American Prostate Cancer Project, led by Erika Trapl, an associate professor in the department of Population and Oral Health Sciences at the Western Case School of Reserve Medicine, will develop and implement a comprehensive program, sustainable, community-based to increase the number of African Americans screened for prostate cancer.
Trapl, lead investigator of the research project, director of the Outreach Community and Engagement Office at the Center for Comprehensive Cancer Case and director of the Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighbors, said prostate cancer does not have known variable risk characteristics. so early screening is the only way to reduce breast cancer death.
“The best bet,” she said, “is to identify prostate cancer early and reduce diagnoses at a late stage.”
To do this, Trapl has established a team of researchers that encompasses knowledge in cancer differentiation, social work, bioethics, culture-specific intervention development, urology, genetic epidemiology, community outreach and distribution and implementation science.
The collaboration includes the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center Community Advisory Board, Urban Barber Association, Cleveland Department of Public Health, Minority Ethnic Health Office, The Gathering Place, Seidman Cancer Center University Hospitals, Cleveland Taussig Cancer Clinic , MetroHealth Cancer Center and Cleveland Institute for Computational Biology. The team hopes to recruit other partners as the work grows.
The project is designed to develop and evaluate a community-based prostate cancer screening program, increase the number of African American men receiving prostate-specific baseline antigen (PSA), establish awareness of prostate cancer risk and reduce complications cancer.
Elevated or persistent levels of PSA – proteins produced by the prostate gland – may be a sign of prostate cancer. Studies to explain the typical range of PSA levels are based mainly on white numbers. By establishing a baseline for African American men at an earlier age, researchers can establish baseline PSA ranges to help detect cancer at an earlier stage.
The campaign has four aims:
- Create a culturally and linguistically appropriate approach to prostate cancer screening education and testing in partnership with barbers, community sailors and healthcare providers.
- Develop and implement a Community Leadership program that provides supportive services and returns results for screening, ensuring the needs of partners and their families are met.
- Implement prostate cancer education and screening in workshops with African American men (age 40 and older).
- Organize local areas and institutional partners to raise awareness of prostate cancer abnormalities and screening.
From our experience in tackling health inequalities and helping to remove barriers to equitable access to quality healthcare worldwide, we recognize that the elements that are essential for success in this program. Through the innovative approach that recognizes the value of workshops as community hubs, strong, in-depth collaborations aided by patient referrers and a comprehensive and strategic plan for implementation and evaluation, we are confident that this program will have a positive impact in the fight against prostate cancer for African American Men. “
Catharine Grimes, Program Director, Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation
Focusing on the communities most at risk of severe disease in the most severe regions of the world, the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation empowers partners to build innovative solutions to promote health equality and improving access to quality healthcare for patients. His programs cover cancer, cardiovascular disease, and immunologic disease, as well as a variety of clinical trials in the United States, and cancers common in Africa, Brazil, and China.
The idea for the project was born at a meeting of the Comprehensive Cancer Center Community Advisory Board last year. The group will be given advanced research questions to ensure community needs are considered from the outset of a project through implementation. Complex science has been drawn to simpler images and metaphors, making it easier to understand.
Waverly Willis, a member of the Community Advisory Board, acknowledges that there is a history of trust between minorities and others in their neighborhoods and communities. “You have to be friendly and meet people where they are,” Willis said. Workshops make up part of the neighborhood’s fabric and are a reliable environment, said Willis, owner of Urban Kutz workshop. , executive director of the Urban Barber Association and chairman of the Ohio Barber and Beauty Federation.
“Our board pushed us to take the work to places that are at the heart of people’s lives, such as workshops,” said Trapl. “From there, the idea has begun, thanks to the partnership of people who living in this community that faces these real issues. We hope it will become a national model. “
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The case of Western Reserve University