Formative Development of a Culturally Appropriate Mammography Screening Campaign for Low-Income African-American Women.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to conduct a formative evaluation of messages and materials to inform the development of a promotional, health campaign designed to increase breast cancer screening awareness and utilization among low-income, uninsured African American women through the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) in Savannah and Macon, Georgia (GA). A priority of CDC is to understand why women eligible for screening through the NBCCEDP do not participate in NBCCEDP screening services as well as to identify effective strategies for increasing enrollment among NBCCEDP-eligible women who have never received breast cancer screening. As such, eight focus groups were conducted with a sample of African American women (n=68) in two cities in GA. The participants in the focus groups were segmented by age (40-49 and 50-64) and mammography screening status. A thematic analysis of field notes was conducted to assess themes and patterns in the participants\u27 perception of the promotional, health campaign\u27s concepts, messages, and materials. The findings revealed common themes and identified several key issues to address in the refinement of campaign messages and materials, including the need to hear about breast cancer and the importance of screening from African American breast cancer survivors as well as to incorporate religious faith and family connectedness messages in materials. The study findings have implications for enhancing breast cancer prevention efforts in the African American community

Person-to-Person Interventions Targeted to Parents and Other Caregivers to Improve Adolescent Health A Community Guide Systematic Review

Context: Adolescence marks a time when many young people engage in risky behaviors with potential implications for long-term health. Interventions focused on adolescents ’ parents and other caregivers have the potential to affect adolescents across a variety of risk and health-outcome areas. Evidence acquisition: Community Guide methods were used to evaluate the effectiveness of caregiver-targeted interventions in addressing adolescent risk and protective behaviors and health outcomes. Sixteen studies published during the search period (1966–2007) met review requirements and were included in this review. Evidence synthesis: Effectiveness was assessed based on changes in whether or not adolescents engaged in specifıed risk and protective behaviors; frequency of risk and protective behaviors, and health outcomes, also informed the results. Results from qualifying studies provided suffıcient evidence that interventions delivered person-to-person (i.e., through some form of direct contact rather than through other forms of contact such as Internet or paper) and designed to modify parenting skills by targeting parents and other caregivers are effective in improving adolescent health. Conclusions: Interventions delivered to parents and other caregivers affect a cross-cutting array o