title: Lay health educators increase colorectal cancer screening among Hmong Americans: A cluster randomized controlled trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Asian Americans have lower colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates than non-Hispanic white individuals. Hmong Americans have limited socioeconomic resources and literacy. The current randomized controlled trial was conducted to determine whether bilingual/bicultural lay health educator (LHE) education could increase CRC screening among Hmong Americans.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted among Hmong Americans in Sacramento, California. LHEs and recruited participants were randomized to intervention or control groups. The intervention group received CRC education over 3 months delivered by an LHE. The control group received education regarding nutrition and physical activity delivered by a health educator. The outcomes were changes in self-reported ever-screening and up-to-date CRC screening after 6 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All 329 participants were foreign-born with mostly no formal education, limited English proficiency, and no employment. The majority of the participants were insured and had a regular source of health care. The intervention group experienced greater changes after the intervention than the control group for ever-screening (P = .068) and being up-to-date with screening (P<.0001). In multivariable regression analyses, the intervention group demonstrated a greater increase than the control group in reporting ever-screening (adjusted odds ratio, 1.73; 95% confidence interval, 1.07-2.79) and being up-to-date with screening (adjusted odds ratio, 1.71; 95% confidence interval, 1.26-2.32). Individuals who had health insurance were found to have >4 times the odds of receiving screening, both ever-screening and up-to-date screening. A higher CRC knowledge score mediated the intervention effect for both screening outcomes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A culturally and linguistically appropriate educational intervention delivered by trained LHEs was found to increase CRC screening in an immigrant population with low levels of education, employment, English proficiency, and literacy. Cancer 2017;98-106. © 2016 American Cancer Society.
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, University of California at Davis, Sacramento, California.
authors: Elisa K
authors: EK
authors: Tong
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors: Tung T
authors: TT
authors: Nguyen
authors: Hmong Women's Heritage Association, Sacramento, California.
authors: Penny
authors: P
authors: Lo
authors: Department of Public Health Sciences, University of California at Davis, Sacramento, California.
authors: Susan L
authors: SL
authors: Stewart
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors: Ginny L
authors: GL
authors: Gildengorin
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors: Janice Y
authors: JY
authors: Tsoh
authors: University of New Mexico at Albuquerque, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
authors: Angela M
authors: AM
authors: Jo
authors: Fielding School of Public Health and Asian American Studies Center, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.
authors: Marjorie L
authors: ML
authors: Kagawa-Singer
authors: University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Manoa, Hawaii.
authors: Angela U
authors: AU
authors: Sy
authors: University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Manoa, Hawaii.
authors: Charlene
authors: C
authors: Cuaresma
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors: Hy T
authors: HT
authors: Lam
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors: Ching
authors: C
authors: Wong
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors: Mi T
authors: MT
authors: Tran
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, University of California at Davis, Sacramento, California.
authors: Moon S
authors: MS
authors: Chen
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001213:Asian / Q000523:psychology*; D002140:California; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods; D040441:Health Educators / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D019303:Multilingualism; D016017:Odds Ratio
keywords: Hmong; colorectal cancer; disparities; lay health educator; screening