“Talk About Cancer and Build Healthy Communities”: How Visuals Are Starting the Conversation About Breast Cancer Within African-American Communities

Abstract

African-American (AA) women are at higher risk of breast cancer mortality than women of other races. Factors influencing breast cancer risk, including exogenous environmental exposures, and debate around timing of exposure and dose-response relationship, can cause misunderstanding. Collaboration with priority populations encourages culturally relevant health messaging that imparts source reliability, influences message adoption, and improves understanding. Through six focus groups with AA individuals in rural and urban counties in the southeastern United States, this study used a community-engaged participatory approach to design an innovative visual tool for disseminating breast cancer information. Results demonstrated that participants were generally aware of environmental breast cancer risks and were willing to share new knowledge with families and community members. Recommended communication channels included pastors, healthcare providers, social media, and the Internet. Participants agreed that a collaboratively designed visual tool serves as a tangible, focused “conversation starter” to promote community prevention and education efforts.

Words Matter: An Analysis of the Content and Readability of COVID-19 Information on Clinic Websites

“…The harms of misinformation and information uncertainty regarding COVID-19 are numerous and ultimately affect the health of both the individual and the community (Lin et al, 2020). Knowledge of or experience with historical medical abuses and biases in the healthcare setting can also foster mistrust, which may influence whether and how people use and apply health information (Jaiswal et al, 2020;Tai et al, 2020;Yelton et al, 2020). Familiar, local providers, however, may be perceived as reliable sources of health information, especially for older adults and some racial/ethnic populations (Friedman et al, 2009;Friedman et al, 2012;Best et al, 2016).…”

Revising Recruitment for Focus Groups to Meet Shifting Needs During COVID-19

“…The strategies used for recruiting in-person focus groups traditionally include local advertisements, provider endorsements, and marketing outreach efforts to members in the community (Marshall & Rossman, 2011). Within focus groups for women with breast cancer, traditionally groups range from five to nine participants per group (Ceballos et al, 2021;Currin-McCulloch et al, 2021;Yelton et al, 2021). Though qualitative studies have no set sample goal equivalent to quantitative studies, researchers generally stop recruiting once they reach data saturation (meaning no new data emerges; Creswell, 2013).…”