title: Health Volunteerism and Improved Cancer Health for Latina and African American Women and Their Social Networks: Potential Mechanisms.
abstract: Health volunteerism has been associated with positive health outcomes for volunteers and the communities they serve. This work suggests that there may be an added value to providing underserved populations with information and skills to be agents of change. The current study is a first step toward testing this hypothesis. The purpose is to identify how volunteerism may result in improved cancer health among Latina and African American women volunteers. A purposive sample of 40 Latina and African American female adults who had participated in cancer volunteerism in the past 5 years was recruited by community advocates and flyers distributed throughout community venues in San Diego, CA. This qualitative study included semi-structured focus groups. Participants indicated that volunteerism not only improved their health but also the health of their family and friends. Such perceptions aligned with the high rates of self-report lifetime cancer screening rates among age-eligible patients (e.g., 83-93 % breast; 90-93 % cervical; 79-92 % colorectal). Identified mechanisms included exposure to evidence-based information, health-protective social norms and support, and pressure to be a healthy role model. Our findings suggest that train-the-trainer and volunteer-driven interventions may have unintended health-protective effects for participating staff, especially Latina and African American women.
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. ymolin2@uic.edu.|Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA. ymolin2@uic.edu.
authors.forename: Yamile
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Molina
authors.affiliation: McKell and Associates, Inc., San Diego, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Marnyce S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: McKell
authors.affiliation: California Border Healthy Start, San Diego, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Norma
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mendoza
authors.affiliation: American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Lynda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Barbour
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Nerida M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Berrios
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Diego, CA, USA.|Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Carol Estwing
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Ferrans
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D000368:Aged; D040343:Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D003150:Community Health Workers; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D060756:Social Networking; D014838:Volunteers
keywords: African American; Cancer disparities; Latina; Volunteerism