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

• Published in: Journal of health care for the poor and underserved Vol. 24; no. 1; p. 311
• Main Authors: Ukoli, Flora A, Patel, Kushal, Hargreaves, Margaret, Beard, Katina, Moton, Pierre J, Bragg, Richard, Beech, Derrick, Davis, Rodney
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01-02-2013
• Subjects: Adult; African Americans - education; African Americans - psychology; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; 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
• ISSN: 1548-6869
• DOI: 10.1353/hpu.2013.0033

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.