Latino Peers as Patient Navigators for Colon Cancer Screening

Summary

Disparities among racial and ethnic minorities remain prevalent despite advances in medical science that make thes early detection and prevention of colorectal cancer a possibility for all human kind. It is estimated that 90% of colorectal cancer deaths could be prevented through screening. Unfortunately, among Latinos, colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death. This rate is influenced by the fact that Latinos have the lowest rates of colorectal cancer screening compared to other US racial groups. Moreover, Latinos are more likely than whites to be diagnosed with advanced-stage colorectal cancer, when treatment options are more limited. Lay health worker interventions for breast and cervical cancer education and screening have demonstrated success in increasing both knowledge and screening rates among racial and ethnic minorities. Additionally, our research has also shown success in training African Americans as peer navigators to increase colorectal cancer screening. Few lay health interventions, however, have been designed specifically for colorectal cancer screening among Latinos. Thus, the purpose of this study is to expand peer navigation for colorectal cancer screening to Latinos and increase their participation in screening by training Latinos, who have had a colonoscopy, to help navigate other Latinos through the colonoscopy screening procedure.

This study will focus on expanding the work of our research group by training Latino peers, who are 50 years or older, have had a colonoscopy, and can model successful colonoscopy screening completion to navigate Latino patients for screening. First, a training manual will be developed which will be culturally specific to Latinos. Feedback and input from community members will guide the development of the manual and training program. Second, the training program will be carried out with six bilingual Latino peers, who will be taught to master the core skills of patient navigation for screening colonoscopy. Finally, we will gather preliminary information about the trained peers' ability to successfully navigate patients for colonoscopy screening. If successful, this training program has the potential to increase colonoscopy screening rates of Latinos and will be critical to the development of future large-scale in interventions aimed at reducing advanced stage diagnosis of colorectal cancer and ultimately colorectal cancer deaths among Latinos.

Conditions

• Colon Cancer

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Peer-PN

Participants in the peer-PN group will also receive two navigation telephone calls: 1) to schedule the colonoscopy, and 2) a reminder call one week before the procedure. It is expected that these phone calls will be shortly longer than the Pro-PN calls by 5-7 minutes because of the additional focus on culture and peer modeling. Peers will remind the patient about the procedure and address concerns, but will provide culturally specific, identity-based navigation, in which they will speak specifically about Latino rates of CRC screening while also modeling self-efficacy by describing what their experience was like before, during and after the colonoscopy procedure.

BEHAVIORAL

Pro-PN

Participants in the standard navigation group receive two phone calls: 1) to schedule the colonoscopy and 2) a reminder call one week before the procedure. The phone calls will each last approximately 15 minutes. During the second phone call, the patient will be reminded about the procedure and any concerns they may have will be addressed. Professional navigators will also be advised to not disclose their race or ethnicity or to discuss specific issues related to Latinos and CRC screening.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Jamilia Sly, PhD · Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

50 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2014-01-31

Primary Completion

2015-03-31

Completion

2015-03-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations