#4Corners4Health Social Media Cancer Prevention Campaign for Emerging Adults: Protocol for a Randomized Stepped-Wedge Trial.

Background: Many emerging adults (EAs) are prone to making unhealthy choices, which increase their risk of premature cancer morbidity and mortality. In the era of social media, rigorous research on interventions to promote health behaviors for cancer risk reduction among EAs delivered over social media is limited. Cancer prevention information and recommendations may reach EAs more effectively over social media than in settings such as health care, schools, and workplaces, particularly for EAs residing in rural areas.

Stepped-care to improve mental health outcomes among underserved patients with lung and head and neck cancer.

Background: The comparative effectiveness study (ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03016403) assessed the effects of a stepped-care intervention versus usual care on mental health outcomes, including anxiety, depression, coping self-efficacy, emotional distress (anxiety and depression combined), health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and perceived stress among underserved patients (i.e.

Ethnicity, socioeconomic status, income inequality, and colorectal cancer outcomes: evidence from the 4C2 collaboration.

Purpose: National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Designated Cancer Centers are required to assess and address the needs of their catchments. In rural regions, catchment areas are vast, populations small, and infrastructure for data capture limited, making analyses of cancer patterns challenging.

Methods: The four NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the southern Rocky Mountain region formed the Four Corners Collaboration (4C2) to address these challenges.

Elderly Black Non-Hispanic Patients With Head and Neck Squamous Cell Cancer Have the Worst Survival Outcomes.

Background: In this population study, we compared head and neck cancer (HNC) prognosis and risk factors in 2 underserved minority groups (Hispanic and Black non-Hispanic patients) with those in other racial/ethnicity groups.

Methods: In this SEER-Medicare database study in patients with HNC diagnosed in 2006 through 2015, we evaluated cancer-specific survival (CSS) between different racial/ethnic cohorts as the main outcome. Patient demographics, tumor factors, socioeconomic status, and treatments were analyzed in relation to the primary outcomes between racial/ethnic groups.

Treatment challenges and support needs of underserved Hispanic patients diagnosed with lung cancer and head-and-neck cancer.

We explored the treatment challenges and support needs that Hispanic underserved lung cancer and head-and-neck cancer patients face while undergoing cancer treatment. Qualitative design - ethnography. Using a sample of 29 participants, we conducted semi-structured interviews with nine lung cancer and head-and-neck cancer survivors and seven health care providers and focus group interviews with six caregivers and seven patient navigators.

Puente para cuidar (bridge to caring): A palliative care patient navigator and counseling intervention to improve distress in Latino/as with advanced cancer.

Objective: Interventions are needed to improve mental health (ie, depression, anxiety) and palliative care (ie, symptoms, goals of care, and advance care planning) outcomes in Latino/as with advanced cancer.

Methods: An interprofessional study team used the ecological validity model and a participatory approach to adapt an evidence-based counseling intervention for Latino/as and integrate the counseling intervention with an evidence-based patient navigator intervention. Next, a small pilot study was conducted to understand and improve the feasibility of the integrated puente para cuidar intervention.

Development of the Brief Social Capital for Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health Scale: Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis.

Social capital plays an important role in sexual and reproductive health among youth, yet few measures to assess this concept have been developed and tested for this population. We developed and examined the factor structure of the Brief Social Capital for Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health Scale. Drawing on the empirical literature, we identified item content to assess an overall construct of social capital in relationship to youth's sexual and reproductive health, including condom self-efficacy, civic engagement, and adult and community support.

Determinants of Treatment Delays Among Underserved Hispanics With Lung and Head and Neck Cancers.

Background: Evidence is lacking to explain the reasons why treatment is delayed among disadvantaged Hispanic patients diagnosed with lung and head and neck cancers. Data indicate that treatment delays beyond 46 days increase the risk of death for individuals with these cancers.

Methods: A mixed-methods design was used to explore determinants of treatment delays by analyzing data from the medical records of 40 Hispanic patients and data from interviews with 29 Hispanic patients, caregivers, health care professionals, and patient navigators from a safety-net hospital.

Entertainment-Education Narrative Versus Nonnarrative Interventions to Educate and Motivate Latinas to Engage in Mammography Screening.

Background: The evidence is limited comparing the effects of entertainment-education (E-E) narrative versus nonnarrative interventions to educate and motivate Latinas to engage in mammography screening.

Aims: This study compared an E-E narrative intervention to two nonnarrative interventions' effects among Latinas on breast cancer knowledge and motivation, as measured by changes in self-efficacy, behavioral norms, and behavioral intentions to engage in mammography screening.

Method: A sample of 141 Spanish-speaking Latinas was randomly assigned to one of three arms: an E-E narrative video, a nonnarrative educational video, and printed educational materials.

The combined influence of psychosocial factors on illness behavior among women.

Distinctions in illness behavior for women, such as use of health services, may result from gender-specific biological risks for disease but could also be explained by the relationships among social, psychological, and behavioral factors. The purpose of this study was to determine if illness behavior in women might be related to associations among social support satisfaction, perceived health status, coping skills, and perceived stress. Data were collected November-December 2005 from 205 female college students through self-report using questionnaires.

The role of physician involvement in Latinas' mammography screening adherence.

Background: Disparities in breast cancer (BC) screening continue to affect Latinas significantly, but the factors that explain these disparities remain unclear.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate whether physician's instruction on breast examination and mammography recommendations predicted Latinas' adherence to mammography screening above and beyond other influential variables.

Methods: A cross-sectional, descriptive design was utilized.

The Latina Breast Cancer Screening Sacle: beliefs about breast cancer and breast cancer screening.

The Latina Breast Cancer Screening (LBCS) was developed to measure Latinas' culturally-shared health beliefs about breast cancer and breast cancer screening. A 60-item LBCS scale was tested with 288 participants and reduced to 35 items using principal components analyses. The 35-item LBCS scale and other measures were administered to a second sample of 147 participants to establish the scale's validity and reliability.

Characteristics associated with mammography screening among both Hispanic and non-Hispanic white women.

Aims: This study explores whether certain population characteristics are associated with adherence to mammography screening guidelines among Hispanic and non-Hispanic white (NHW) women living in the southwestern United States.

Methods: Participants in a population-based study (4-Corners' Breast Cancer Study) included in this analysis were 790 Hispanic women and 1,441 NHW women. Multivariate logistic regression was used to compute the ethnic-specific adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association of the outcome variable (adherent vs.

Community readiness to promote Latinas' participation in breast cancer prevention clinical trials.

The high breast cancer (BC) mortality rates that exist among Hispanic women (Latinas) are a health disparity burden that needs to be addressed. Prevention clinical trials are a burgeoning area of cancer prevention efforts and may serve to promote parity. Unfortunately, Latinas, along with other ethnic minority women, continue to be under-represented in this form of research.

Using a community readiness model to help overcome breast health disparities among U.S. Latinas.

The aim of this article is to illustrate how investigators can use a strength-based model, such as the Community Readiness Model (CRM), to help overcome breast health disparities among Latinas living in the United States. In this effort, I describe a CRM study conducted between the years 2001 and 2002 in four predominantly Latino communities in Colorado. First, 19 key informants were interviewed to assess their perceived level of community readiness to encourage Latinas participation in breast cancer prevention and control activities.

An exploration of Latino smokers and the use of pharmaceutical aids.

Background: Latino smokers are less likely than white non-Latino smokers to use nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) or bupropion when trying to quit smoking. The current study explored sociocultural and psychosocial factors related to nonuse of smoking-cessation medications among Latino smokers.

Methods: Structured discussions were held with six separate focus groups of current smokers (n =49) who self-identified as Latino, had attempted to quit in the past 12 months, and were aged 35 to 64 years.

Breast cancer detection among older Latinas: is it worth the risk?

Fifty-eight Latinas participated in focus group interviews to assess their perceptions about screening to detect breast cancer (BC). Grounded theory methods helped uncover a cultural explanatory model that explained how cultural and psychosocial dynamics influence BC screening decisions. According to this model, Latinas generally perceived BC screening as a risky behavior.

Where's Maria? A video to increase awareness about breast cancer and mammography screening among low-literacy Latinas.

Background: The need exists to educate and motivate medically disadvantaged Latinas to engage in regular mammography screening to reduce their high breast cancer (BC) mortality risk due to the illness' late detection.

Methods: Qualitative research methods [e.g.

Cervical cancer screening among Latinas: the importance of referral and participation in parallel cancer screening behaviors.

Low cancer screening participation among medically underserved Latinas is largely due to lack of active referral to screening procedures by health care providers. We explored how physicians' referral and instruction on parallel screening procedures discriminates Latinas' cervical cancer screening practices in the context of relevant variables such as sociodemographic characteristics, health insurance, history of cancer, and level of acculturation. Of 153 women surveyed, 100 were compliant with yearly Pap smear while 53 were not compliant.

Feeling frugal: socioeconomic status, acculturation, and cultural health beliefs among women of Mexican descent.

Psychosocial and socioeconomic variables are often confounded. The authors combined quantitative with grounded theory analysis to investigate influences of acculturation, socioeconomic status (SES), and cultural health beliefs on Mexican-descent women's preventive health behaviors. In 5 focus group interviews sampling across levels of acculturation and SES, women expressing more traditional Mexican health beliefs about breast cancer screening were of lower SES and were less U.

Utilization across the continuum of long-term care services.

Purpose: This study presents an analysis of the influence of consumers' predisposing, enabling, and need characteristics on the utilization of long-term care (LTC) services in nursing facilities (NFs), assisted living facilities, or home- and community-based services (HCBS).

Design And Methods: Data were gathered through a record review of a cross-sectional sample of 1,968 consumers aged 60 years or older receiving formal LTC services.

Results: Need contributes the most to differential LTC use.