Effectiveness of Lay Health Worker Outreach in Reducing Disparities in Colorectal Cancer Screening in Vietnamese Americans

• Published in: American journal of public health (1971) Vol. 105; no. 10; pp. 2083 - 2089
• Main Authors: Nguyen, Bang H, Stewart, Susan L, Nguyen, Tung T, Bui-Tong, Ngoc, McPhee, Stephen J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Public Health Association 01-10-2015
• Subjects: Aged; Asian Americans; Asians; Bilingualism; Blood tests; California; Cancer; Clinical trials; Colonoscopy; Colorectal cancer; Colorectal Neoplasms - diagnosis; Community; Community Health; Community Health Workers; Demography; Educational materials; Exercise; Feces; Female; Gastroenterology; Gender; Health care; Health maintenance organizations; Healthcare Disparities; Hispanic Americans; HMOs; Humans; Innovations; Intervention; Interviews as Topic; Male; Mass Screening - methods; Medical personnel; Medical screening; Mens health; Middle Aged; Noncitizens; Outreach services; Public health; Public Health Practice; Public Health Workers; RESEARCH AND PRACTICE; Screening; Self report; Social networks; Vietnam - ethnology; Womens health; Vietnam; California; United States > US
• ISSN: 0090-0036; 1541-0048
• DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2015.302713

We conducted a cluster randomized controlled study of a lay health worker (LHW) intervention to increase colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates among Vietnamese Americans, who typically have lower rates than do non-Hispanic Whites.
We randomized 64 LHWs to 2 arms. Each LHW recruited 10 male or female participants who had never had CRC screening (fecal occult blood test, sigmoidoscopy, or colonoscopy). Intervention LHWs led 2 educational sessions on CRC screening. Control LHWs led 2 sessions on healthy eating and physical activity. The main outcome was self-reported receipt of any CRC screening at 6 months after the intervention. We conducted the study from 2008 to 2013 in Santa Clara County, California.
A greater proportion of intervention participants (56%) than control participants (19%) reported receiving CRC screening (P < .001). When controlling for demographic characteristics, the intervention odds ratio was 5.45 (95% confidence interval = 3.02, 9.82). There was no difference in intervention effect by participant gender.
LHW outreach was effective in increasing CRC screening in Vietnamese Americans. Randomized controlled trials are needed to test the effectiveness of LHW outreach for other populations and other health outcomes.