NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area, Sahtu Settlement Area

Tags: health care evaluation, health promotion, cancer

Objective(s): To talk with men and women in Inuvik and Fort Good Hope about peoples' knowledge, attitude and behaviors towards cancer screening and utilization of available services for three cancers (colorectal, breast and cervical).

Project Description: Cancer is the leading cause of death in the Northwest Territories. Cancer screening is a test to detect cancer at earlier stages, and can increase successful treatment. Screening can also increase survival rates and prevent up to 35% of premature deaths due to cancer. Three screening programs have been established in Canada for early detection of breast, colorectal, and cervical cancers. However, utilization of cancer screening services is low in the NT. The research team will talk to men and women in Inuvik and Fort Good Hope about peoples' knowledge, attitude and behaviours towards cancer screening and utilization of available services for three cancers (colorectal, breast and cervical). During these interviews, people could share: 1) What cancer means to them and what they think causes cancer; 2) Their experiences (positive and negative) with cancer in their family and community; 3) Communities' opinion on the best way to prevent and/or treat cancer; 4) Communities' thoughts and attitudes to access and use of health services including cancer screening; and/or 5) Communities' suggestions for how clinics can better serve the community so the experience is more comfortable for the members. This study is at the request of the communities and the Government of the NWT who are partners in this proposal. Phase 1 of the project: A: In the development of the project, the Community Advisory Board (CAB), which is made up of aboriginal peoples, will meet and discuss the best way to share the communities' thoughts and concerns about cancer screening and improving health care services. The CAB will advise the team about the cultural-appropriateness of the project. The team have visited Inuvik and Fort Good Hope and met with the Fort Good Hope Band Council, the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and Gwich’in Tribal Council to talk about the project. The team and the community members and representatives talked about working together on this project. B) The team will train local community members to help with the study and data collection and will be certified to ensure all data are comparable. C) Key informant interviews: To obtain feedback from key stakeholders or community members regarding barriers and opportunities for the community to participate in cancer screening programs. With the participants' permission, all the information will be collected by note taking method. Phase II of the project: If interested, all women 20 to 74 years old and men 50 to 74 years living for more than 6 months in Inuvik or Fort Good Hope will be invited to take part. People who have or had colorectal, breast or cervical cancer can also take part. Recruitment/Data Collection: CAB will help the team recruit participants from the community. The team will walk from house to house while they are in the community and ask people to answer the questions. If no one is home after three visits, the team will not go to the house again. The project hopes to have 285 people from Inuvik and 115 from Fort Good Hope participate. Participants are given the choice of completing the questionnaires in either English or their local language. The interviews will be conducted by a trained member of the community to eliminate any language barriers. The CAB will consist of local healthcare professionals, community-staff, Indigenous organization representatives, stakeholders, key community members and Elders who will provide advice and insight on all aspects of the information gathering. The CAB will ensure cultural appropriateness of the data collection methods and is vital to the success of the program. Any interested person can be part of the board, as well as all key community leaders, including those who have previously participated in our community advisory boards. Key informant interviews will be conducted to obtain feedback from key stakeholders or community members. Key informants will ensure that the needs and concerns of the community about cancer screening services are identified. The team has developed an informative poster showing different parts of the human body and outlining where cancer can occur. The communities are working on translating the poster into local languages. Once the results are ready the study team will travel to share initial findings with the CABs, community members of Fort Good Hope and Inuvik, Fort Good Hope Band Council, the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, Gwich’in Tribal Council, Aurora Research Institute and Sahtu Health & Social Services. The team will travel to present all final results and data. A draft report based on the findings will be prepared and presented to all previously mentioned groups. Based on input from everyone, a final report and presentation will be prepared. Community members will be involved in the preparation and presentation of the findings and will be invited to Edmonton to work with the team to prepare the final report. The final hard-copy report and oral presentation will be shown at the local community meeting place and everyone in the community will be invited. The team will also give the hard-copy reports to all organizations that have been involved in the study. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from February 13, 2015 to December 31, 2015.