title: Developing a community action plan to eliminate cancer disparities: lessons learned.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  African Americans bear an unequal burden of breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer. The Deep South Network for Cancer Control (DSN) is a community-academic partnership operating in Alabama and Mississippi that was funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to address cancer disparities using community-based participatory research approaches.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  In addition to reporting on the plans of this work in progress, we describe the participatory process that local residents and the DSN used to identify needs and priorities, and elaborate on lessons learned from applying a participatory approach to the development of a community action plan.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted 24 community discussion groups involving health care professionals, government officials, faith-based leaders, and other stakeholders to identify cancer health disparity needs, community resources/assets, and county priorities to eliminate cancer health disparities. To develop a community action plan, four working groups explored the themes that emerged from the discussion groups, taking into consideration evidence-based strategies and promising community practices.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The DSN formulated a community action plan focusing on (1) increasing physical activity by implementing a campaign for individual-level focused activity; (2) increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetables by implementing NCI's Body and Soul Program in local churches; (3) increasing cancer screening by raising awareness through individual, system, and provider agents of change; and (4) training community partners to become effective advocates.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A community-academic partnership must involve trust, respect, and an appreciation of partners' strengths and differences. The DSN applied these guiding principles and learned pivotal lessons.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Preventive Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA.
authors.forename: Theresa Ann
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Wynn
authors.forename: Charkarra
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Anderson-Lewis
authors.forename: Rhoda
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hardy
authors.forename: Gail
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hardin
authors.forename: Shundra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Marron
authors.forename: Mona
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fouad
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Partridge
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Scarinci
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000407:Alabama / Q000453:epidemiology; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology; D055812:Community-Based Participatory Research / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008922:Mississippi / Q000453:epidemiology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D014495:Universities; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology