Digital storytelling is an emergent method in health promotion. It addresses health inequities by combining technology with the voices of members of vulnerable, often underrepresented populations. The overall goal of this pilot project was to explore if digital storytelling could be a culturally relevant health promotion tool for Hispanics/Latinos to share their experiences with cancer, or other diseases. Promotores participated in a train-the-trainer workshop. Community members worked with trained promotores to create digital stories through community workshops.We conducted one-on-one interviews with digital story creators to elicit perspectives and assess their experience. One overarching theme among storytellers was the power of storytelling. Supporting sub-themes that emerged in the interviews were: (1) connection and communication, (2) lack of opportunities and barriers to telling stories, and (3) potential for disease prevention awareness and education. This study found digital storytelling to be culturally relevant for Hispanics/Latinos of Mexican origin. For these storytellers it was a uniquely valuable tool for sharing personal stories of overcoming or managing health issues. Participants found the digital story experience to be positive and beneficial. It provided a healing outlet to reflect on a difficult experience and find support within one's own community.

Disparities in colorectal cancer incidence and mortality rates exist among racial/ethnic minorities, especially those living in rural areas. There is an urgent need to implement interventions to improve colorectal cancer screening behaviors among such groups, particularly those living in rural areas in the United States. From a rural community of Hispanics, we recruited participants to attend home-based -led "home health parties" in which participants were taught about colorectal cancer screening; participants ages 50 and older were given a free fecal occult blood test (FOBT) kit to complete on their own. A pre- and posttest design was used to assess changes in colorectal cancer awareness, knowledge, and screening at baseline and at 1-month follow-up after the intervention. We observed a statistically significant increase in colorectal cancer screening awareness and knowledge among participants. Colorectal cancer screening rates with FOBT increased from 51.0% to 80%. There was also a statistically significant increase in social engagement, that is, the intent to speak to friends and relatives about colorectal cancer screening. Findings indicate that culturally tailored colorectal cancer education facilitated by in a rural environment, coupled with free stool-based test for colorectal cancer screening, is an effective way to increase colorectal cancer screening awareness, knowledge, and screening among Hispanics living in a rural area in Washington State. Culturally tailored home health interventions have the potential to achieve Healthy People 2020 colorectal cancer screening goals in Hispanic rural communities.

Background: Community-academic partnerships are increasingly used to engage community members and researchers in research activities; however, little is known, about the motivations and perceptions of community members to participate in such projects. Objectives: The overall goal was to elicit Community Advisory Board (CAB) members’ motivations and perceptions of involvement in the community-academic partnership. Methods: An external evaluator conducted fifteen one-on-one semi-structured interviews with CAB members of NIH-funded projects. Coders conducted a conventional content analysis to derive themes from the interview data. Results: Emergent themes were grouped into four categories: CAB members’ 1) motivation to participate in the project, 2) perceptions that they had insider information, 3) views of roles and responsibilities in project planning and implementation, and 4) challenges and suggestions to improve the community-academic relationship. Conclusions: This study found substantial evidence that CAB members perceived they were working to involve the Hispanic community in health promotion.

Introduction-The purpose of this study was to assess effects of three different educational intervention arms on knowledge of and intention to receive Pap testing and HPV co-testing. Methods-Three active educational intervention arms were developed: a fotonovela, a radionovela, and a digital story. A pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) of 160 Latinas was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the intervention arms in increasing knowledge of cervical cancer and HPV and intention to be screened for cervical cancer compared to an attention control group (flu vaccination). Results-Women in all three treatment arms significantly increased knowledge about cervical cancer compared to control arm (p=0.02). Knowledge about cervical cancer screening also increased in the active arms compared to control (p=0.0003). Knowledge of HPV risk also increased relative to the control (p=0.0001). There were no significant differences between the intervention arms in increased knowledge of cervical cancer or cervical cancer screening (p=0.57 and 0.16 respectively). Discussion-This study supported the use of small media interventions in narrative education form as effective in increasing knowledge and intention to be screened for cervical cancer. The three culturally relevant interventions, built on qualitative data, were all successful in increasing knowledge.

This community-based intervention study examines the impact of Cancer 101, a cancer education resource developed in collaboration with American Indians/Alaska Natives to improve cancer knowledge, action regarding cancer control in tribal settings, and survival rates for members of their communities. Pre/post-surveys used to assess knowledge, attitudes, perceived benefits and future activities at baseline, immediately post-training, and at 4–6 months. Participants demonstrated significant change in knowledge, attitude, and cancer control activities. Cancer 101 provides a critical pathway to increase knowledge and promote action to reduce the burden and improve survival of cancer within tribal communities.