Developing Sustainable Cancer Education Programs: Training Public Health Students to Deliver Cancer 101 in Puerto Rico

• Published in: Journal of cancer education 2018-02, Vol.33 (1), p.128-133
• Main Authors: Rivera, Y. M., Moreno, L., Briant, K. J., Vélez, H., Jiménez, J. C., Torres, J., Vadaparampil, S. T., Muñoz-Antonia, T., Quinn, G. P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cancer; Cancer Research; Community; Community Relations; Education; Epistemology; Modeling (Psychology); Observational Learning; Pharmacology/Toxicology; Public Health; Self Efficacy; Students; Training
• ISSN: 0885-8195; 1543-0154
• DOI: 10.1007/s13187-016-1076-4

The use of promotores to educate Hispanic communities about different health topics has been proven successful, albeit with limitations in program sustainability. The goal of this study was to develop a sustainable train-the-trainer model to train graduate public health (PH) students to disseminate cancer education among communities in Puerto Rico (PR). Graduate students ( n  = 32) from Ponce Health Sciences University’s (PHSU) PH program participated in a 2-day Cáncer 101 training, where they learned how to deliver nine cancer modules to the community. Cancer knowledge was assessed before and after the training via 54 items measuring discussed concepts. Participants also assessed the training’s effectiveness by completing a training evaluation informed by social cognitive theory (SCT) constructs of self-efficacy, outcome expectations, facilitation, and observational learning. Participants were mainly female (78.1 %), 26.7 ± 3.9 years old, and enrolled in a Masters-level program (81.3 %). Participants reported an average 11.38-point increase in cancer knowledge after attending the training [ t (31) = 14.88, p