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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1384588

Reflecting on Partnerships Established and Sustained Over Four Cycles of a Federally Funded Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program: Lessons Learned for Community-Academic Networks

Provisionally accepted
Swann Arp Adams Swann Arp Adams 1,2*Lauren Workman Lauren Workman 3,4Mayank Sakhuja Mayank Sakhuja 5Brooks Yelton Brooks Yelton 5Karen E Wickersham Karen E Wickersham 2Ciaran Fairman Ciaran Fairman 6Jan Eberth Jan Eberth 7Sue Heiney Sue Heiney 2James R Hebert James R Hebert 1,8Jaron H King Jaron H King 5Freda Allyson Hucek Freda Allyson Hucek 5Lauren Schaurer Lauren Schaurer 9Daniela B Friedman Daniela B Friedman 5
  • 1 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, United States
  • 2 Biobehavioral Health and Nursing Science Department, University of South Carolina, Columbia, United States
  • 3 Department of Health Services Policy and Management, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, United States
  • 4 Center for Applied Research Evaluation, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, United States
  • 5 Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, United States
  • 6 Department of Exercise Science, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, United States
  • 7 Department of Health Management and Policy, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
  • 8 Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, United States
  • 9 Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network (CPCRN) is a national network which aims to accelerate the adoption and implementation of evidence-based cancer prevention and control strategies and interventions in communities, enhance large-scale efforts to reach underserved populations and reduce their cancer-related health disparities, and develop the capacity of the dissemination and implementation work force specifically in cancer prevention and control. Methods: Our site has been a part of the CPCRN since its inception in 2002 with the exception of the 2004-2009 funding cycle. As community-based participatory research is a core value ofour center, we examined the development and continued engagement of our community partners using a qualitative, inductive approach to identify emergent themes from focus group sessions with current and past investigators. Results: Several key themes were identified from our analysis including long-term commitment to community partnerships and interconnectedness with other work, authentic approach, valuing our community as experts, and mutual benefits.Discussion: With our results, we provide evidence of common community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles which have supported the sustained engagement with those racial minorities who are most vulnerable in our community. While future analysis is planned to utilize this same approach with our community partners, this work marks an important step in reflecting upon the approaches which have led to our success and how they can be applied in future collaborations to maximize impact and sustained health improvements.

    Keywords: cancer disparities, African American, Evidenced-based interventions, Community-Based Participatory Research, cancer education and communication

    Received: 09 Feb 2024; Accepted: 06 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Adams, Workman, Sakhuja, Yelton, Wickersham, Fairman, Eberth, Heiney, Hebert, King, Hucek, Schaurer and Friedman. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Swann Arp Adams, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, 29208, South Carolina, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.