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Evaluating the Training of Filipino American Community Health Advisors to Disseminate Colorectal Cancer Screening

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Abstract

Community health advisor-led interventions are associated with improved health promotion behaviors, such as cancer screening, but the process of training community health advisors is rarely described and evaluated. We trained 91 Filipino Americans from 19 organizations to conduct small-group sessions with members of their organizations to promote colorectal cancer screening. Community health advisors completed brief pre- and post-training surveys that included knowledge of colorectal cancer screening guidelines (four items), perceived self-efficacy of performing specific tasks (15-item scale, Cronbach’s alpha > 0.90) and satisfaction with the training itself (five items). Community health advisors had high levels of knowledge and self-efficacy at pre-training, but levels increased significantly immediately after the 6-h training (percent of knowledge items answered correctly: 63–94 %; self-efficacy: 8.2–8.9 on a 10 point scale, both p < 0.001). Correlates of self-efficacy at pre- and post-test were high educational attainment, health care background, high level of participation in the organization, being perceived by others as a leader, and frequent participation in research activities in the past. Consistent evaluation measuring similar constructs across studies may help to standardize the quality of the training, and may improve the implementation of community health advisor-led programs.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Grant RSGT-04-210-05-CPPB from the American Cancer Society. CMC was also supported by NIH/NCI grant P30 CA16042. We would like to thank the members of the Filipino American community who participated in this study.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health and Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Annette E. Maxwell, Leda L. Danao, Reggie T. Cayetano, Catherine M. Crespi & Roshan Bastani

  2. UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity, 650 Charles Young Dr. South A2-125 CHS, Box 956900, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-6900, USA

    Annette E. Maxwell, Leda L. Danao, Reggie T. Cayetano, Catherine M. Crespi & Roshan Bastani

Authors
  1. Annette E. Maxwell
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  2. Leda L. Danao
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  3. Reggie T. Cayetano
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  4. Catherine M. Crespi
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  5. Roshan Bastani
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Correspondence to Annette E. Maxwell.

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Maxwell, A.E., Danao, L.L., Cayetano, R.T. et al. Evaluating the Training of Filipino American Community Health Advisors to Disseminate Colorectal Cancer Screening. J Community Health 37, 1218–1225 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-012-9557-9

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