Enhancing food access in a comprehensive cancer center area of influence through local partner capacity building.

BACKGROUND: Food insecurity, an economic and social condition of limited food access, is associated with poor diet quality-a risk factor for several common cancers. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center supports healthy food access through community-led evidence translation by actively partnering with community-based organizations (CBOs). These partnerships aim to enhance the capacity of food assistance CBOs to effectively implement evidence-based food insecurity mitigation programs in the cancer center's area of influence. METHODS: This case study aims to describe the cancer center's model for local food access capacity building and detail operationalization in the context of a whole-community cancer prevention effort (Be Well Baytown) in Baytown, Texas. RESULTS: Elements central to the capacity building model include (i) assessment of baseline needs and capacity, (ii) empowering a community champion within a relevant CBO, (iii) mapping inter-sectoral community partnerships, collaborations, and linkages, and (iv) leveraging systems, connections, and resources to provide an enabling environment for overall food access systems growth. Through this process, Be Well Baytown enhanced the capacity of a local food pantry leading to increases in total reach, pounds of food distributed, and number of food distribution events in collaboration with intersectoral partners from 2018 to 2023. CONCLUSION: This case study highlights the model's implementation as a co-benefit community partnership strategy to maximize the impact of food security programs integrated with comprehensive cancer center prevention efforts.

Using Implementation Mapping to increase uptake and use of Salud en Mis Manos: A breast and cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination intervention for Latinas.

Background: Despite CDC recommendations for breast and cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination, cancer control behaviors are underutilized among low-income Latinas. Salud en Mis Manos (SEMM), adapted from Cultivando La Salud, is a community health worker- (CHW-) delivered evidence-based intervention (EBI), shown to increase breast and cervical cancer screening. Methods: We used Implementation Mapping to create SEMM-Dissemination and Implementation Assistance (SEMM-DIA), a set of implementation strategies designed to support implementation and maintenance of SEMM in clinic settings. Specifically, we used Implementation Mapping's five iterative tasks to guide the use of theories and frameworks, evidence, new data, and stakeholder input to develop strategies to accelerate and improve implementation fidelity, reach, and maintenance of the SEMM intervention. The resulting implementation mapping logic model also guides the SEMM-DIA evaluation plan to assess reach, effectiveness, implementation, and maintenance. Discussion: Increased use of implementation planning frameworks is necessary to accelerate the translation of EBIs to public health practice. This work demonstrates the application of Implementation Mapping to develop SEMM-DIA, providing a model for the development of other implementation strategies to support translation of evidence-based health promotion interventions into clinic settings.

Low-income Hispanic parent recall of daughters' HPV vaccination status: Correlates of accurate reporting of daughters' HPV-vaccine naïve status compared with electronic health records.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to (1) assess the accuracy of parental recall of adolescent (11-17 years) daughters' HPV vaccine initiation in a low-income, urban Hispanic population, and (2) describe the correlates of accurate recall. METHODS: We compared parental recall of HPV vaccine naivety to daughter's electronic medical records to calculate the proportion of parents accurately reporting HPV naïve status. We used mixed effects logistic regression to identify correlates of accurate recall. RESULTS: We verified vaccination status for 1103 daughters of participants who reported their daughters were HPV vaccine-naïve; 69.3% of parents accurately reported their daughters as HPV vaccine-naïve. Parents of older daughters (13-17 years) compared to younger daughters (11-12 years) had significantly lower odds of accurately reporting daughters as unvaccinated (AOR = 0.60; 95% CI 0.42-0.83). DISCUSSION: Underreporting of vaccination status among our study population corresponds with national data that suggest lower income and minority populations underreport HPV vaccination initiation and completion.