Culturally Targeted Decision Aid Use in Intention to Complete Colorectal Cancer Screening among African American Women

Title: Culturally Targeted Decision Aid Use in Intention to Complete Colorectal Cancer Screening among African American Women Purpose: African American (AA) women experienced approximately 41% more deaths related to Colorectal Cancer (CRC) than White women in 2016. Provider recommendation has been a positive predictor of screening behavior. Along with provider recommendation, decision aids (DAs) can be useful tools to decrease health disparities and increase screening rates in racial, sex, and gender minorities. The purpose of the project is to determine if the use of DAs along with provider recommendation improve intention to complete CRC screening. Method: 21 AA women ages 45-75 years where recruited from a primary care office and asked to complete a 5 question survey gauging intention to complete CRC screening. They then viewed a culturally targeted DA regarding CRC screening. After viewing the DA, they completed the same 5-question survey regarding intention to complete CRC screening. Results: Twenty-one AA women aged 47-69 years completed the project. A Wilcoxon Signed rank test was conducted to evaluate the changes in intentions following of the culturally targeted DA intervention on AA women’s intention to complete CRC screening. Level of intention to complete screening did not differ significantly from the pre (M rank=8.44) to the post intervention group (M rank=9.50) where the sum of the ranks was 67.50 and 85.50 respectively and z=.666. Conclusion: Though the study did not show statistical significance in intention to complete screening, it did seem to increase knowledge of CRC screening. Addressing social issues and bringing awareness to the AA community about CRC screening is imperative to reduce morbidity and mortality related to CRC. More research is needed on the use of decision aids specifically targeting high-risk populations such as African American women