Partnership for Native American Cancer Prevention: Outreach Strategies and Evaluation 2019-2024.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Cancer Prevention
• Community-Engaged Research

Background:

• The National Institute of Health has supported Outreach Cores within Center grants since the late 1990s, with limited initial guidance.
• The Partnership for Native American Cancer Prevention (NACP) has been funded since 2002, with its Outreach Core sharing strategies implemented between 2019 and 2024.
• The NACP Outreach Core aimed to increase institutional and community capacity for cancer control by enhancing knowledge, training in research best practices, facilitating dissemination, and collaborating on informational activities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide an overview of strategies implemented by the NACP Outreach Core in Arizona.
• To offer cancer-related education in collaboration with Native Nations.
• To train researchers on tribal oversight and community-oriented dissemination when working with Native American communities.

Main Methods:

• Goal 1 involved a speaker series, contributions to a genomics workshop for Indigenous communities, and developing cancer research resources for Native Nations.
• Goal 2 included contributions to a university workshop on Native American research protections.
• Goal 3 focused on community dissemination training for NACP-funded research teams, and Goal 4 involved presenting at community conferences and cancer awareness events.

Main Results:

• An Indigenous Cancer Prevention Speaker Series was held quarterly for five years, and education on biospecimen collection was provided through a genomics internship.
• Cancer education resources were distributed to tribal health directors, and community dissemination training was delivered to 31 investigators.
• A podcast series, 'Taking Care of Us,' was developed, and NACP Outreach participated in 20 community events, reaching over 1400 individuals.

Conclusions:

• The NACP Outreach Core successfully provided cancer information and maintained communication with Arizona Native Nations, enhancing institutional and community capacity.
• Assessing the impact of outreach activities is challenging, with current metrics limited to reach (e.g., participant counts).
• Regular community engagement is crucial for the relevance and receptivity of outreach efforts, strengthening long-term partnerships between communities and universities.