Black Health Block Quit and Screen Project
Abstract
For decades, Black/African American people have had the highest cigarette smoking-attributable mortality in the United States. Evidence-based interventions that could reduce the mortality burden have been slow to reach Black smokers in the clinical setting. The long-term goal of this study is to increase provider advice to quit smoking tobacco and patient referrals to lung cancer screening, evidence-based clinical interventions that could have a powerful influence on saving the lives of Black people who smoke tobacco. To accomplish this goal, the Black Health Block Quit and Screen Project will engage members of the National Medical Association, the largest organization of Black health care providers in the United States, in a training and education campaign guided by our novel and adapted version of the National Institutes of Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Framework for Tobacco-Related Health Disparities.
Specific Aims
Our multidisciplinary team will conduct a mixed-methods study (concept mapping and survey) in Phase 1 to better understand health care providers' 1) knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors and 2) perceived political, social, and structural determinants of health that impede Black smokers from quitting tobacco and screening for lung cancer. In Phase 2, our team will use the data from concept mapping and the health care provider survey to develop training modules that help health care providers deal with the unique needs of Black menthol smokers and people with social disadvantage. Our study will examine the feasibility and impact of the Black Health Block Culturally Tailored Training alone versus the Health Disparities and Lung Cancer Screening Training + the Black Health Block Culturally Tailored training modules on changes in knowledge, attitudes, and behavior among health care providers randomly assigned to each condition. In Phase 3, our team will examine the reach of the education campaign that links patients and providers to resources to facilitate quitting smoking and lung cancer screening via a patient navigator. The proposed study takes advantage of a unique and timely opportunity to prepare a national organization of Black health care professionals to help Black smokers quit and screen amid pending federal legislation to ban menthol cigarettes and flavors cigars. If this study is successful, then the data can be used to launch a larger trial that tests the impact of culturally relevant training modules on health care provider uptake of evidence-based clinical interventions and Black smokers' quitting and screening for lung cancer.
Community Partners
- National Medication Association
- Gary Flowers of the Gary Flowers Show
Roles
