Résumé
Lack of access to cancer prevention education, early screening, and timely treatment, particularly in low socioeconomic, underserved communities, are cited as substantial barriers to improving survivorship. Outreach educational efforts with on-site screenings offered in partnership with community groups are known to be valuable in encouraging community members' uptake of healthy behaviors and adherence to screening recommendation. To create more engaging events, a community-academic partnership, We Engage 4 Health (WE4H), co-created 11 unique 4-panel comic-style stories designed to be read aloud together as attendees visit each event table. These colorful stories are shared on boards that stand on each table and are offered in both English and Spanish at this time. Many tables also have an accompanying hands-on activity. Together, they lead to meaningful "low stakes" discussions which support understanding of seemingly complex health information. Story topics include the cause of cancer (Cells Gone Wrong), cancer risk factors (Reducing Your Risk), the role of primary care in cancer screening (Primary Care for Prevention), the purpose of research (short Research Ready) and details about specific cancer types (Combatting Colon Cancer, Blocking Breast Cancer, Looking for Lung Cancer, Silencing Skin Cancer, Hindering HPV, and Professional Prostate Protection) and COVID-19 (Take Your Best Shot FAQs). A health passport is used to facilitate table visitation and survey collection at each table enables meaningful evaluation of the event as well as provides the community hosts and their partners baseline cancer data to inform future programing. In 2022, WE4H and the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center partnered with three different communities to co-host pilot events that served over 100 adult residents. Community, research interns and university students volunteered to work the tables at the event and received training prior. Post event surveys and discussions indicated that community partners appreciated the different take on a health fair event. Most volunteers indicated that they would enjoy volunteering again. Attendees indicated that they liked the graphic-style story format used and most preferred it to text and text with graphics approaches. Taken together, the data indicates that Reducing Your Risk events are useful in meaningfully engaging hard to reach, at risk attendees. Additional in-person and virtual events are being planned for 2023 as an approach to reach the medically underserved throughout our region.
Résumé
Introduction Self-sampled specimens to test for blood borne viruses can involve either mini tube testing (MTT) or dried blood spot testing (DBST).[1] In the UK, remote testing for STIs has increased in recent years, a trend enhanced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Whilst information is already available on these different testing technologies, little is known about the patient experience of home blood-sampling. We present a pilot service evaluation to explore the patient experience of DBST and MTT. Methods DBST kits (including tests for HIV, syphilis, Hepatitis B and C) were sent to 30 patients. People were included in this service evaluation if they were MSM who had a) requested an online MTT kit from our clinic website within the preceding 6 months, b) subsequently returned a blood sample which was inadequate for analysis and c) not yet attended the department for a venous sample. Sample return rates and results were analysed, and patients were also invited to complete a short telephone survey. Discussion Our sample return rate was 67%. This is higher than the reported average from UKHSA for MTT (57%).[2] Nineteen patients completed the survey discussing their experience of both MTT and DBST. We identified significant issues faced by patients when carrying out remote MTT which included logistical difficulties when collecting blood samples, pain and distress. Comparatively, our evaluation demonstrated that DBST was less labour-intensive and therefore the preferred test for 100% of our respondents. Conclusion DBST proves to be a promising and acceptable candidate for future delivery of blood borne virus home sampling.