Using a Participatory Research Process to Address Disproportionate Hispanic Cancer Burden

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) offers great potential for increasing the impact of research on reducing cancer health disparities. This article reports how the Community Outreach Core (COC) of the Meharry-Vanderbilt-Tennessee State University (TSU) Cancer Partnership has collaborated with community partners to develop and implement CBPR. The COC, Progreso Community Center, and Nashville Latino Health Coalition jointly developed and conducted the 2007 Hispanic Health in Nashville Survey as a participatory needs assessment to guide planning for subsequent CBPR projects and community health initiatives. Trained community and student interviewers surveyed 500 Hispanic adults in the Nashville area, using a convenience sampling method. In light of the survey results, NLHC decided to focus in the area of cancer on the primary prevention of cervical cancer. The survey led to a subsequent formative CBPR research project to develop an intervention, then to funding of a CBPR pilot intervention study to test the intervention.