How Barbershops Will Play a Role in Reducing Colorectal Cancer Disparities among African-American Men

SALT LAKE CITY – African-American men are more likely to die from colon cancer than any other racial group. That fact led a researcher at 亨茨曼癌症研究所 (HCI) 在 犹他大学 (U of U) to begin a long-term project to underst和 why.

查尔斯·R. 罗杰斯，博士，公共卫生硕士，硕士，;痒®, HCI researcher 和 assistant professor of family 和 preventive medicine 在美国大学, began looking into this disparity years ago. "When I started my work in 2011, African-American men had a 20 percent higher chance of getting colon cancer than white men 和 a 45 percent higher chance of dying from it. Fast forward to 2019 和 those numbers have increased to 24 percent 和 47 percent."

罗杰斯 was recently awarded a grant that totals nearly $900,000 from the 国家癌症研究所 (NCI). He will use community-based approaches over the next five years to develop, 实现, 和 evaluate culture-specific interventions with the goal of eliminating cancer disparities among African-American men. His plan specifically targets masculinity barriers to colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. "Screening may challenge some cultural role expectations for African-American men, who have the tendency to delay getting medical care for themselves,罗杰斯说。.

One key venue will aid 罗杰斯 in accomplishing his goal: barbershops. "Barbershops are historically known as culturally appropriate 和 trusted venues in African-American communities,罗杰斯说。. "You’ve got guys in there from toddlers to senior citizens. The barbershop provides a pathway to reach the men my study is targeting. 这些人, because of issues including masculinity barriers, are not getting regular healthcare 和 screenings."

The study, called Cutting CRC, will take place in Utah 和 Minnesota. It will happen in three phases: The first is connecting with community partners to recruit African-American men ages 45-75 to participate in focus groups. The second phase puts the study in the field where participants will take a survey on a smartphone device in local barbershops. (Statistically, African-Americans outpace all other racial/ethnic groups in smartphone use.) The third phase of the study involves development, 实现ation, 和 evaluation of interventions.

罗杰斯 hopes this study will advance underst和ing to improve CRC screening completion rates in African-American men, 和 extend to screening for other cancers where mortality rates are high for African-American men such as prostate cancer. Find additional study details at cuttingCRC.com.

The NCI grant 罗杰斯 received is awarded to promising early-career faculty. The grant supports career enhancement of junior faculty through an intensive, 指导研究项目. Kolawole年代. Okuyemi, MD, 英里每小时, HCI senior director of diversity 和 inclusion 和 professor 和 chair of family 和 preventive medicine 在美国大学, serves as 罗杰斯’ primary mentor on this project. 罗杰斯 received his 博士学位 in health education from Texas A&米大学. He joined HCI in summer 2018 from the University of Minnesota, where he earned a master’s of 公共 health 和 advanced his community-based research of racial disparities in cancer screening among men.

This research is supported by NCI, including K01CA234319 和 P30 CA042014; 亨斯迈癌症基金会，和 Department of 家庭 和 Preventive Medicine 在美国大学.