Development and Pilot Evaluation of a Cancer-Focused Summer Research Education Program Navajo Undergraduate Students

Abstract

This paper describes the development and pilot testing of a 10-week cancer research education program for Navajo undergraduate students. The program was piloted at Diné College with 22 undergraduates (7 men, 15 women) in 2007 and 2008. Students completed a pre–post program survey assessing attitudes, opinions, and knowledge about research and about cancer. The program was found to be culturally acceptable and resulted in statistically significant changes in some of the attitudes and opinions about research and cancer. Combining all 13 knowledge items, there was a significant (p=0.002) change in the mean total correct percent from baseline [70.3 (SD=15.9)] to post-program [82.1 (SD=13.1)]. The curriculum was adapted for a new cancer prevention and control course now offered at Diné College, enhancing sustainability. Ultimately, these efforts may serve to build capacity in communities by developing a cadre of future Native American scientists to develop and implement cancer research.

Development and Pilot Evaluation of Native CREST—a Cancer Research Experience and Student Training Program for Navajo Undergraduate Students

“…The Native CREST program described in this article as well as our prior activities [22] may collectively help to address the “silence” and avoidance regarding cancer in Navajo and other Native American communities.…”

“…This paper focuses on the aim of student training in cancer research, specifically, to develop and implement a summer student research training experience at Mayo Clinic for Diné College students. A successful partnership and collaboration between Diné College and the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center focusing on cancer research training and education has been developed and nurtured [22]. MCCC’s assets combined with Diné College’s Native American student and faculty resources and history of community activity placed the two institutions in an exceptional position to effectively reach the Navajo community.…”

“…MCCC’s assets combined with Diné College’s Native American student and faculty resources and history of community activity placed the two institutions in an exceptional position to effectively reach the Navajo community. The Native CREST (Cancer Research Experience & Student Training) program builds on an existing Summer Research Enhancement Program (SREP) at Diné College that focuses on diabetes and cancer prevention and public health research [22] and is also modeled on Mayo’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program, a competitive research training experience for undergraduate students to participate in a research training internship. SREP is a 10-week research program conducted in a culturally supportive atmosphere where each student is encouraged to adopt a strong, multi-cultural approach to cancer and diabetes prevention research.…”

Journal Clubs: An Educational Approach to Advance Understanding Among Community Partners and Academic Researchers About CBPR and Cancer Health Disparities

“…Interestingly, community partners also expressed an interest in the topic of preparing youth for future careers in science/medicine. Indeed, there has been growing attention focused on developing a training pipeline for underserved students to prepare them for future careers in cancer [15, 16]. At Moffitt Cancer Center, numerous students participate in such training programs, some of which involve interactions with community partners.…”

Introducing Students to Cancer Prevention Careers through Programmed Summer Research Experiences

“…Little published information is available on the relative success of training programs in recruiting future researchers to cancer prevention careers. Most outcomes studies of cancer prevention training programs focus on success in retaining members of groups underrepresented in the sciences [7, 8] or on general productivity of trainees [9]. While several studies have been published that examine the effects of undergraduate research experiences in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields, in general, on students’ aspirations to academic science careers, most have found that these experiences tend to clarify, confirm , or rule out students’ interest in science careers, rather than initiating or stimulating interest, where it did not yet exist [10–15] (A. Vineet and D. Meltzer, personal communication, 08/05/2011).…”