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Training lay health workers to promote post-treatment breast cancer surveillance in African American breast cancer survivors: Development and implementation of a curriculum

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Abstract

Background. African American breast cancer survivors are less adherent to guidelines for post-treatment breast cancer surveillance compared to White survivors. Survivors in Spirit (SIS) is an intervention that addresses this problem through lay health workers (LHWs). Methods. African American women were trained as LHWs using a structured curriculum. Trainees' intervention knowledge was assessed before and after training. Results. There was a substantial increase in the mean percentage of correct items from pre- to post-test for the trainees as a group. Conclusions. LHWs can be effectively prepared to conduct interventions focusing on the complexities of breast cancer recurrence and surveillance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY

    Hayley S. Thompson PhD (Assistant Professor)

  2. Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY

    Tiffany Edwards PhD, Dana Bovbjerg PhD, Lina Jandorf MA, Monique Littles MA & Heiddis B. Valdimarsdottir PhD

  3. Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY

    Deborah O. Erwin PhD

  4. New York Hospital Queens, Flushing, NY

    Susan H. Lee MD & Karen Karsif MD

  5. SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY

    Theophilus Lewis MD

  6. Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, NJ

    Bert Petersen MD

  7. The Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention, New York, NY

    Jenny Romero MD

Authors
  1. Hayley S. Thompson PhD
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  2. Tiffany Edwards PhD
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  3. Deborah O. Erwin PhD
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  4. Susan H. Lee MD
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  5. Dana Bovbjerg PhD
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  6. Lina Jandorf MA
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  7. Monique Littles MA
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  8. Heiddis B. Valdimarsdottir PhD
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  9. Theophilus Lewis MD
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  10. Karen Karsif MD
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  11. Bert Petersen MD
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  12. Jenny Romero MD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hayley S. Thompson PhD.

Additional information

Supported by the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program (DAMD17-03-1-0454).

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Thompson, H.S., Edwards, T., Erwin, D.O. et al. Training lay health workers to promote post-treatment breast cancer surveillance in African American breast cancer survivors: Development and implementation of a curriculum. J Canc Educ 24, 267–274 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1080/08858190902973085

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08858190902973085

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