Engaging Community Health Workers in South Florida
Spanish-speaking women in the South Florida farmworker community suffer from lack of access to healthcare, low breast cancer screening rates, limited medical knowledge, and greater exposure to risk factors for breast cancer. Immigrant and poor women face cultural barriers that prevent them from seeking medical services for early detection of cancer, leading to late stage diagnosis and higher death rates. Community health workers can bridge access barriers by connecting with communities in ways that other healthcare personnel cannot.
This project aims to identify the needs and knowledge gaps of this South Florida population, understand the role of community health workers in supporting their access to health services, and develop innovative methods of training community health workers to promote breast health and breast cancer early detection.
Partners
The Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas is working in partnership with the University of Miami, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, Behavioral and Community-Based Research Share Resource and their community partners.
This project expands upon the successful training of community health workers and promoters that was completed in Mexico, spearheaded by the breast cancer civil society organization Tomatelo a Pecho.
The Florida Breast Cancer Foundation is generously providing funding for this research.
