A Youth-led Intervention to Reduce Healthcare Disparities in Cancer Screening
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Summary
This study engages youth as health advocates to increase cancer screening in their community. The study will evaluate the effectiveness of a youth-led intervention on cancer screening awareness in adults who are overdue for cancer screening.
Eligibility
- Age range
- 15–80 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria: * Student at New Brunswick Health Sciences Technology High School (15-18 years) and their adult family members (18+ years old) who are NJ residents. * Adults must be eligible for at least one cancer screening other than skin (see below). * Participants must be fluent in either English or Spanish and the youth must speak the same language as the adult. Breast: 40-74 year old women Cervical: 21-65 year old women with a cervix (have not had a hysterectomy) Colorectal: 45-75 year olds Prostate: 50 to 69 year old men (start at 45 for black males) Lung: 50 to 80 year olds who c…
Interventions
- BehavioralYouth-led cancer screening intervention
High school students will be trained as health advocates and then facilitate discussions about cancer screening recommendations and risk factors with adults in their community. High school students (15-18 years old) from the local community will be recruited for this study, and each student will recruit adults that they live with or are part of their community (i.e. parent) who are eligible for cancer screening. The adult plus youth dyads will all undergo the same youth-led intervention in which the youth will utilize motivational interviewing to discuss cancer screening recommendations and risk factors with their adults and help their adults enroll in cancer screening through ScreenNJ, a community organization that aims to increase cancer screening in New Jersey, reduce cancer mortality rates, and reduce disparities.
Location
- New Brunswick Health Sciences Technology High SchoolNew Brunswick, New Jersey