title: Patnè en Aksyon: addressing cancer disparities in Little Haiti through research and social action.
abstract: Haitian women living in Miami, Florida, experience an increased risk of developing and dying from cervical cancer compared with women in other racial/ethnic minority and immigrant groups in the area. In response to this disparity, academic investigators from a local university-based cancer center and community leaders from Little Haiti, the predominately Haitian neighborhood in Miami, created Patnè en Aksyon (Partners in Action), a campus-community partnership. We describe the partnership's effort to document the prevalence of lifetime and routine Papanicolau test use using community-based participatory research methods. Community health workers indigenous to the area recruited participants from various community venues throughout Little Haiti and administered informal, brief interviews to assess their screening practices. The results indicate that Haitian women are underscreened and underscore the importance of community involvement in study implementation.
authors.affiliation: Miller School of Medicine and University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control (C202), 1120 NW 14th St, CRB Suite #1528, Miami, FL 33136, USA. ekobetz@med.miami.edu
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kobetz
authors.forename: Janelle
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Menard
authors.forename: Betsy
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Barton
authors.forename: Laurinus
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pierre
authors.forename: Joshua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Diem
authors.forename: Pascale Denize
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Auguste
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018672:Community Health Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida / Q000453:epidemiology; D006205:Haiti / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D014505:Urban Population; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*