A Culturally Adapted Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Intervention Among Muslim Women in New York City: Results from the MARHABA Trial

AbstractWe examine the efficacy of MARHABA, a social marketing-informed, lay health worker (LHW) intervention with patient navigation (PN), to increase breast and cervical cancer screening among Muslim women in New York City. Muslim women were eligible if they were overdue for a mammogram and/or a Pap test. All participants attended a 1-h educational seminar with distribution of small media health education materials, after which randomization occurred. Women in theEducation + Media + PN arm received planned follow-ups from a LHW. Women in theEducation + Media arm received no further contact. A total of 428 women were randomized into the intervention (214 into each arm). Between baseline and 4-month follow-up, mammogram screening increased from 16.0 to 49.0% in theEducation + Media + PN arm (p <  0.001), and from 14.7 to 44.6% in theEducation + Media arm (p <  0.001). Pap test screening increased from 16.9 to 42.3% in theEducation + Media + PN arm (p <  0.001) and from 17.3 to 37.1% in theEducation + Media arm (p <  0.001). Cancer screening knowledge increased in both groups. Between group differences were not statistically significant for screening and knowledge outcomes. A longer follow-up period may have resulted in a greater proportion of up-to-date screenings, given that many women had not yet received their scheduled screenings. Findings suggest that the educational session and small media materials were pe...
Source: Journal of Cancer Education - Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: research