D.C.-Area Program for Latinas Breaks Barriers to Cancer Screening
Newswise — Removing economic concerns, having a bilingual staff and being culturally sensitive can remove some of the barriers to cancer screening for Latinas in the United States, according to a study of a program that provided cervical and breast cancer screening in the Washington, D.C., area.
The program was developed to serve the Latina population in the district's Virginia suburbs and has provided cancer screening one Saturday each month to a population that would otherwise have significant barriers to obtaining it. More than half of the Latina women enrolled in the program returned for annual screening or treatment.
In its first six years, 928 screening visits took place, with 53 percent of these by women who had returned at least once for an annual screening. The study found that 91 percent of these women preferred speaking in Spanish with their health care providers and that only 5 percent said they had health insurance.
The study is published in the August issue of the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved.
The program, the product of collaborative agreement between Georgetown University Medical Center, Georgetown University Hospital and the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, was started eight years ago. Study co-author Robert Warren, M.D., is co-director of the Ourisman Breast Health Center at Georgetown University Hospital.
Although participation in cancer screening programs has increased over the last 20 years, Latinas do not take advantage of them to the same extent as other ethnic groups. Invasive cervical cancer is also more prevalent in women who are isolated from health care due to language barriers. The Georgetown program was started to educate Latinas about the importance of screening and increase their participation by providing the service for free.
Free screening for cancer may not be enough if cancer is detected, however. What makes the program unique, Warren said, is that any additional treatment participants may need is provided at no cost to them. The screening program is part of a project started by the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation of Alexandria, Va., but the costs of treatment are borne by the Georgetown facilities.
Cost is a key issue here, said Marc B. Schenker, M.D., chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of California, Davis. Providing bilingual health care practitioners or translators is very important. "Medical centers are big and difficult to navigate if you are part of dominant culture. If you are poor and speak another language, it is an enormous barrier," he said.
This barrier is alleviated in the Georgetown program. In addition to having bilingual staff in the screening program, a bilingual project coordinator accompanies participants on visits to surgeons or other specialists to provide translation, Warren said.
Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved: Contact Editor Virginia M. Brennan at (615) 327-6819 or vbrennan@mmc.edu. Online, visit http://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_health_care_for_the_poor_and_underserved/
Warren AG, et al. Breaking down barriers to breast and cervical cancer screening: a university-based prevention program for Latinas. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved 17(3), 2006.
