Tackling cervical cancer disparities through African American beauty salons: A community-based health education intervention

While traditional settings such as physician offices and community health agencies have had measurable success in delivering behavioral health interventions, they are less successful in recruiting underserved African American participants. Inner-city African American women, faced with multiple risk factors contributing to persistent health disparities, require a source of reliable health information in a setting that is easily accessible and credible to them. Salon-based health education programs are becoming increasingly popular for reaching African American females because they engage trusted members of the community (salon owners and hair stylists) in a location that represents care and reflects the tradition of sharing information through oral communication. We partnered with neighborhood hair salons to promote messages about persistent cervical cancer disparities and low rates of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination in the African American community. Study goals were to: (1) recruit eight beauty salons in low-income Philadelphia neighborhoods to serve as health education sites; (2) train hair stylist to be able to discuss cervical cancer disparities and HPV infection with their customers, and (3) increase knowledge and awareness about HPV, as well as intentions to vaccinate, among customers at each salon. Study inclusion criteria for customers consisted of being a young woman ages 18 to 26 or the caregiver of a young female ages 9 to 17. Stylists were trained by members of the research team to be able to briefly discuss cervical cancer and HPV with their customers during regular salon hours. Additionally, professional health educators were trained more substantially on the health topics and were placed in the salons to supplement the work of the stylists and provide a more in-depth educational experience for the customers. Survey data related to knowledge and attitudes about HPV and HPV vaccination were collected from customers immediately before and after the health education, and approximately one month later. Salon stylists and owners were interviewed post-intervention to assess their experiences with participating in the intervention. Two hundred and forty women from 10 salons were enrolled in the study. Roughly 60% of participants were caregivers while 40% were young women. Knowledge about cervical cancer and HPV infection increased significantly in both groups from baseline to endpoint and remained high at the one-month follow-up assessment. At follow-up, 68% of participants said that they had had a discussion with a friend or family member about what they learned, and 57% planned to talk to their doctor or their daughter9s doctor about HPV vaccination. Sixty-two percent of caregivers reported that it was important that their daughter be vaccinated against HPV in the future. There were no significant differences between the caregivers and the young women on outcome measures of knowledge, attitudes, or intentions to vaccinate. During the post-intervention interviews with the stylists, many indicated that they enjoyed having discussions about health in the salon and that salons should continue to serve as venues of education for women in the African American community. The majority of stylists indicated that neither they, nor their customers, were aware of the magnitude of cervical cancer disparities among African American women nor the availability of the HPV vaccine as a method of protection for young women. Results of the study indicate that such community-based interventions are both feasible and effective in reaching populations not traditionally included in health education interventions. Citation Format: Amy Leader, Pamela Weddington, Ralph DiClemente, Gina Wingood, Alicia Jackson, Ivan Juzang. Tackling cervical cancer disparities through African American beauty salons: A community-based health education intervention. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Sixth AACR Conference: The Science of Cancer Health Disparities; Dec 6–9, 2013; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2014;23(11 Suppl):Abstract nr A26. doi:10.1158/1538-7755.DISP13-A26