Posted on August 10, 2005 at 9:20 a.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — A University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) researcher has received $4.3 million in grants from the National Cancer Institute to explore how to prevent cervical cancer in the burgeoning immigrant Latino population and to promote higher awareness, among health care providers, of cultural, social and other differences of this group.

“In the United States, the incidence of cervical cancer is higher in Latinas than in whites, and they are 40 percent more likely to die from the disease,” according to Isabel Scarinci, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Scarinci, a researcher with the UAB Minority Health and Research Center and the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center, is principal investigator for the studies. “Health care specialists are looking for new ways of delivering public health messages and influencing healthy behaviors in among Latinos in Alabama and other Southern states where the population increases are spiking,” she said.

Mona Fouad, M.D., director of UAB’s Minority Health and Research Center, said, “The economic strength of the South has led to opportunities here for foreign-born Latinos. Unlike other parts of the country that already have established Hispanic communities for these immigrants to enter, states like Alabama have little or no experience with this group, so new ways of reaching them with health messages is vitally important.” Latino population in Alabama increased 208 percent from 1990 to 2000, with estimates that it is at least as rapid growth since 2000, according to a new report from the Pew Hispanic Center, “The New Latino South.”

Several differences in health-seeking behavior have surfaced in recent surveys, Scarinci said. Among other tendencies, Latinos are prone to:

• delay seeking help for health problems or symptoms;
  
  
• engage in very limited health screenings, such as Pap smears and cholesterol screening;
  
  
• treat problems with home remedies, massages with special ointments, prayers, and candles;
  
  
• practice folk medicine and access underground prescription medications.

Scarinci joined UAB three years ago after developing an innovative program in Memphis that promoted cancer screening among mostly-Mexican females, or Latinas. That has culminated in a five-year, $1.5 million project named “Sowing the Seeds of Health.” It will involve Cooper Green Hospital and the Alabama Department of Public Health to train Latinas to be promoters of health — or promontoras — in their communities.

A second program, using $2.8 million over five years, will focus on promotion of cervical cancer screening as well as Latinas’ communication with their male partners. “It’s been well established that the sexually-transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) is a cause of cervical cancer, so it is crucial to education women on the importance of talking with their sexual partners,” she said.

This randomized trial was developed with input from Latina immigrants who suggested “friendship circles” as a vehicle to promote education and skills. Most of Scarinci’s work in cancer prevention has been through churches, “but the church is not an appropriate site to talk about sexual behavior, so we have set up these groups along the model of Tupperware parties, where women meet in a home for social interaction.”

This program is different from some others in that it focuses on teaching problem-solving skills – how to communicate effectively with their partners about safe sex and other health issues, she said. “Instead of just setting up screening appointments for them, we will teach how to navigate the health care system. A lay health educator will walk them through how to call, how to make the appointment, and how to actually get to the healthcare practitioner.”

For more information, go to www.uabmhrc.com or call 205-996-2827.

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Isabel Scarinci, Ph.D., M.P.H. (pictured)