WE-CARE Community Health Forums to Increase Breast Cancer Screening and Clinical Trial Participation for Rural and Low Income Women

Purpose

This clinical trial tests how well the Women's Engagement for Cancer Awareness, Resources, and Education (WE-CARE) community health forums work to increase breast cancer screening and clinical trial participation for rural and low income women. Despite advances in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment in the past decade, rural-dwelling and underserved women, and Black, Indigenous, and people of color continue to experience low rates of breast cancer screening. Since the survival rate for breast cancer is largely dependent on stage at which it is diagnosed, later stage breast cancer is correlated to a poorer prognosis and higher mortality rate. The WE-CARE community health forms address structural barriers through culturally tailored educational sessions on breast cancer risk, screening and clinical trials, survivor storytelling to humanize cancer and research and patient navigation to facilitate mammogram screening and address barriers. The WE-CARE community health forums may be an effective way to increase breast cancer screening and clinical trial participation for rural and low income women.