Paper
Friday, 21 July 2006
This presentation is part of : Cultural Beliefs and Healthcare
Collaboration Between Faculty and Rural Nurses to Educate African American Women Regarding Breast Health: A Feasibility Study
Mary Ann Kelley, DSN, RN, Capstone College of Nursing, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA
Learning Objective #1: The learner will be able to describe an innovative collaborative study between faculty and community nurses for the purpose of educating rural African American women.
Learning Objective #2: The learner will be able to discuss the evaluation of the methods and design of a community based research study.
Background:  Breast cancer remains a disparity for African American (AA) women.  In one southern state, rural AA women participated less often in early detection and had a higher mortality from breast cancer than Caucasians.  One avenue to decrease mortality is to educate AA women within the rural communities, where they reside.  Through collaboration with nurses in these communities, effective education is possible.

Purpose:  The researcher will discuss the evaluation by stakeholders of a two-phase feasibility study to recruitment and retain rural, AA nurses and rural AA participants for a breast health intervention.  The outcomes of these evaluations are included.

Design:  A quasi-experimental, pretest/posttest, one group design was used to study rural AA women.  Using convenience sampling, 4 nurses were recruited, trained, and evaluated, and 58 AA women were exposed to breast health information.  Questionnaires, observation, and interviews were the data collection methods.  Findings:  Evaluating the objectives for the program using descriptive statistics, 100% of nurses considered the program too long, while 93% of participants considered the program the right length.  Regarding organization and adequacy of teaching, 100% of the nurses, faculty, and participants rated the program at agree or strongly agree.  Of the 4 nurses, the ratings for satisfaction with program enough to encourage more nurses to assist were 100%.  The participants evaluated the program regarding learning of new knowledge (100% agree or strongly agree), satisfaction with program (100% agree or strongly agree), and ability to pass knowledge forward to friends (100% agree or strongly agree).  Suggestions for changes included reaching more rural areas, and shorter research forms.

Conclusions:  A study of an educational intervention to train rural, AA nurses to teach rural AA participants within the community had positive results.  Further research is needed to identify strategies to enhance completion of educational sessions by African American nurses.

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