Recruitment of African American Churches to Participate in Cancer Early Detection Interventions: A Community Perspective.

This article describes the process used to engage and recruit African American churches to serve as participants in two multi-year behavioural cancer research interventions from a community perspective. Community-based organizations used purposive sampling in engaging and recruiting advisory panel members and churches to participate in these interventions. Trust, respect, open dialogue with participants, and commitment to address community health needs contributed to successful engagement and recruitment of African American churches to serve as participants in these cancer research projects. Our results may help others engage and recruit African American churches to participate in future interventions.

Can Women Facilitate Men's Prostate Cancer Screening Informed Decision-Making? The M-PACT Trial.

The M-PACT study compared an all-male with a mixed-sex intervention to increase informed decision-making for prostate cancer screening among African-American men in church settings. We recruited 262 men in 18 churches randomized to the two intervention approaches. Trained and certified lay peer community health advisors in each church led a series of four men's health workshops on informed decision-making for prostate cancer screening. African-American male workshop participants completed baseline, post-workshop, and 12-month follow-up surveys. Contrary to our expectations, including women in the workshops did not result in increased intervention efficacy for the informed decision-making outcomes as both groups showed significant improvement over time in several study outcomes including stage of decision-making for prostate cancer screening, preference for role in decision-making, prostate cancer knowledge, and self-reports of prostate specific antigen testing. Finally, men who attended multiple workshops had better informed decision-making outcomes on several indicators. The current findings suggest mixed results from including women in this men's health educational intervention. Future work should consider optimal ways of providing family support for African-American men's health promotion.

Feasibility and acceptability of SMS text messaging in a prostate cancer educational intervention for African American men.

African Americans' greater access to mobile phones makes short messaging service technology a promising complement to health promotion interventions. Short messaging service text messages were added to the Men's Prostate Awareness Church Training project, a men's health intervention for African American men. We report on the feasibility and acceptability of the use of short messaging service text messages in the intervention. Short messaging service text messages served as (1) workshop reminders; (2) post-workshop message reinforcement; (3) spiritual/motivational messages; and (4) participant retention. At workshop 4, over 65 percent of participants wished to continue receiving the messages. While there was an increase in recall over time, more than one-third of the participants did not recall receiving the 53 text messages. However, recall was considerably greater among men who attended the Men's Prostate Awareness Church Training workshops. Overall, the inclusion of text messages in health promotion interventions targeting mature African American men was found to be feasible and acceptable.

Recruitment and Participation of African American Men in Church-Based Health Promotion Workshops.

Health promotion interventions in African American communities are frequently delivered in church settings. The Men's Prostate Awareness Church Training (M-PACT) intervention aimed to increase informed decision making for prostate cancer screening among African American men through their churches. Given the significant proportion and role of women in African American churches, the M-PACT study examined whether including women in the intervention approach would have an effect on study outcomes compared with a men-only approach. The current analysis discusses the men's participation rates in the M-PACT intervention, which consisted of a series of 4 bimonthly men's health workshops in 18 African American churches. Data suggest that once enrolled, retention rates for men ranged from 62 to 69 % over the workshop series. Among the men who were encouraged to invite women in their lives (e.g., wife/partner, sister, daughter, friend) to the workshops with them, less than half did so (46 %), suggesting under-implementation of this "health partner" approach. Finally, men's participation in the mixed-sex workshops were half the rate as compared to the men-only workshops. We describe recruitment techniques, lessons learned, and possible reasons for the observed study group differences in participation, in order to inform future interventions to reach men of color with health information.

Informed Decision-Making and Satisfaction with a Church-Based Men's Health Workshop Series for African-American Men: Men-Only vs. Mixed-Gender Format.

Prostate cancer incidence and mortality are highest among African-American men, and coupled with the controversy around routine prostate cancer screening, reaching African-American men with interventions to help them make an informed decision about whether or not to be screened is critical. This study compares two approaches to delivering a church-based peer community health advisor intervention consisting of a series of four men's health workshops on informed decision-making for prostate cancer screening. In the men-only group, male community health advisors teach group workshops consisting only of men. In the health partner group, male-female pairs of community health advisors teach workshops in a mixed-gender format in which enrolled men are asked to invite a significant woman in their lives (e.g., wife/partner, sister, daughter, friend) with them to the workshops. Eighteen African-American churches were randomized to receive one of the two approaches, and 283 eligible men enrolled in the intervention. Main findings suggested that the workshops had an impact on stage of decision-making, and this increased significantly over time in the health partner group only. The intervention was highly rated by men in both groups, and these ratings increased over time, with some study group differences. Within-workshop study group differences favored the health partner group in some instances; however, men in the men-only groups reported greater increases in their ratings of trust in the workshops over time. The health partner intervention strategy appears to be promising for reaching men of color with health information.

Development of the men's prostate awareness church training: church-based workshops for African American men.

This article describes the development of a spiritually based intervention to increase informed decision making for prostate cancer screening through African American churches. The intervention used spiritually themed health messages, incorporated women as supportive health partners, and included a health information technology component. The Men's Prostate Awareness Church Training Project followed a community-based participatory research process to develop educational materials, and training for 40 community health advisors to implement the 4-part prostate health workshop series that will be implemented in 20 churches. Implications are discussed for designing culturally relevant interventions to reduce prostate cancer disparities impacting African American men.