Developing a partnership model for cancer screening with community-based organizations: the ACCESS breast cancer education and outreach project.
There is growing enthusiasm for community-academic partnerships to promote health in underserved communities. Drawing upon resources available at a comprehensive cancer center, we developed the ACCESS program to guide community based organizations through a flexible program planning process. Over a three-year period, ACCESS partnered with 67 agencies serving various medically underserved populations. Organizations included hospitals, parishes, senior centers, harm reduction programs, and recreational facilities. Program outcomes at the organizational level were quantified in terms of introduction of new cancer information, referral or screening programs, as well as organizational capacity building. ACCESS represents a viable model for promoting partnership to transfer behavioral health programs and adapt interventions for new audiences. Plans to further evaluate and enhance this model to promote cancer screening efforts are discussed. We argue that, ultimately, formation and development of community partnerships need to be understood as a fundamental area of practice that must be systematically integrated into the mission of major academic medical institutions in every area of public health.
Rapkin
Bruce D
BD
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 641 Lexington Ave, 7th Floor, New York, NY, 10022, USA. rapkinb@mskcc.org
Massie
Mary Jane
MJ
Jansky
Elizabeth J
EJ
Lounsbury
David W
DW
Murphy
Paulette D
PD
Powell
Shemeeakah
S
D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002173:Cancer Care Facilities; D018672:Community Health Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations / Q000592:standards*; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration; D008875:Middle Aged; D009935:Organizational Affiliation; D014481:United States