title: Social support among Latina immigrant women: bridge persons as mediators of cervical cancer screening.
abstract: New Latina immigrants face numerous linguistic, cultural, logistical, and material barriers to cervical cancer screenings. Promotoras (lay health advisors) are a proven strategy to promote utilization of care. Since the mid-1990s, interventions in North Carolina have aimed to connect Latina immigrants to a broader range of bridge persons. This study assessed the effect of bridge persons on utilization of cervical cancer screening by Latina immigrants in North Carolina. Women were recruited in Spanish-language churches in four counties (N = 223). Logistic regression results show that persons known through advocacy organizations appeared to increase probability of recent Pap screening by an average of 10.4 percentage points (p < 0.05). Promotoras remain more effective, increasing probability of screening by 12.9 percentage points (p < 0.05) but few women (14%) knew one. No association was found with other bridge person profiles. Interventions are needed to better engage all bridge persons in linking immigrants to preventive health services.
authors.affiliation: Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research, Brown University, Box G-S311, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA. Melanie_Wasserman@brown.edu
authors.forename: Melanie R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Wasserman
authors.forename: Deborah E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Bender
authors.forename: Shoou-Yih
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Joseph P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Morrissey
authors.forename: Ted
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mouw
authors.forename: Edward C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Norton
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017691:Caribbean Region / Q000208:ethnology; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D007843:Latin America / Q000208:ethnology; D008403:Mass Screening; D009657:North Carolina; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012944:Social Support; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014626:Vaginal Smears