Connecting Implementation Science, Community-Engaged Research, and Health Promotion to Address Cancer Inequities in Massachusetts: The UMB/DF-HCC U54 Outreach Core

Am J Health Promot. 2022 May;36(4):597-601. doi: 10.1177/08901171211062800. Epub 2021 Dec 23.

Abstract

The Outreach Core of the U54 Partnership between the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and the University of Massachusetts Boston created a new model for addressing cancer inequities that integrates implementation science, community-engaged research, and health promotion. Key elements of the approach include engaging a Community Advisory Board, supporting students from underrepresented minority backgrounds to conduct health promotion and community-engaged research, increasing the delivery of evidence-based cancer prevention programs to underserved communities (directly and by training local organizations), supporting research-practice partnerships, and disseminating findings. Our model highlights the need for long-term investments to connect underserved communities with evidence-based cancer prevention.

Keywords: community; community-engaged research; evidence-based outreach; implementation science; underserved populations.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Carcinoma, Hepatocellular*
  • Health Promotion
  • Humans
  • Implementation Science
  • Liver Neoplasms*
  • Massachusetts