A tailored prostate cancer education intervention for low-income African Americans: impact on knowledge and screening

J Health Care Poor Underserved. 2013 Feb;24(1):311-31. doi: 10.1353/hpu.2013.0033.

Abstract

African American men bear disproportionate burden of prostate cancer (PCa) that can be reduced by early detection. A 15-minute culturally appropriate PCa education intervention developed to communicate effective, relevant, and balanced PCa screening information to low-income African American men was evaluated in men 42 years and older who had not been screened in one year. Of 539 men enrolled, 392 (72.7%) completed the six-month follow-up. Mean age was 54.4±8.9, 34.7% had no high school diploma, and 65.3% earned less than $25,000 annually. Barriers to screening included health insurance (41.4%), discomfort of digital rectal exam (32.1%), and fear of cancer diagnosis (29.9%). Mean knowledge score of 21 points increased from 13.27±3.51 to 14.95±4.14 (p<.001), and prostate-specific antigen screening from 22.1% to 62.8%. Men without high school diploma recorded the lowest post-intervention PCa knowledge and screening rate (47.7%), suggestive of the need for more than a single education session. Annual physicals with free prostate examination can maintain the positive trend observed.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Black or African American / education*
  • Black or African American / psychology
  • Early Detection of Cancer / psychology*
  • Early Detection of Cancer / statistics & numerical data
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
  • Health Services Accessibility
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Patient Education as Topic / methods*
  • Poverty / psychology
  • Poverty / statistics & numerical data
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / diagnosis
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / psychology*