Annual Report-AGHI 2021-FINAL FOR WEB | Page 17

CULTIVATING A GENOMIC-READY WORKFORCE : PATIENT AND PARTICIPANT NAVIGATION

1 . A Summary of the American Cancer Society Report to the Nation : Cancer in the Poor . ( 1989 ). A Summary of the American Cancer Society Report to the Nation : Cancer in the Poor . CA : A Cancer Journal for Clinicians , 39 ( 5 ), 263 – 265 . https :// doi . org / 10.3322 / canjclin . 39.5.263 2 . National Navigation Roundtable . ( 2018 , November 14 ). About Patient Navigation . https :// navigationroundtable . org / about-patientnavigation /
The ability to inform , educate , and enroll over 7,600 Alabamians into the AGHI study doesn ’ t just happen . It starts with members of the participant recruitment and engagement team , who are committed to a community based intervention called participant navigation .
CULTIVATING A GENOMIC-READY WORKFORCE : PATIENT AND PARTICIPANT NAVIGATION
This concept grew out of a response to the needs identified in the 1989 American Cancer Society National Hearings on Cancer in the Poor . Socioeconomically challenged Americans of many races and ethnicities shared their experiences , which revealed common barriers to accessing medical care . These barriers included financial burdens , lack of access to care , and culturally insensitive or irrelevant methods of communication related to cancer management1 . Harold Freeman , MD , a practicing surgeon in Harlem , N . Y ., is considered the father of patient navigation , and he developed a model that addresses these barriers by improving access for underserved communities and helping them receive more timely cancer diagnoses and treatments .
The UAB Recruitment and Retention Shared Facility incorporates the patient navigation model into research participant navigation . Similar to what happens in direct patient care , participant navigators help break down barriers to participation in medical research . This includes recognizing and understanding historical ethical atrocities associated with medical research that cause apprehension and fear in some communities . It also includes meeting potential participants where they are , ensuring that information is communicated in a culturally competent and easily understood manner .
Navigators form meaningful relationships in the communities and medical clinics where research studies are actively enrolling participants . New studies often benefit from the long-term relationships that UAB participant navigators have built in some communities and clinical spaces – relationships strengthened by the past successes and positive experiences that community members and clinicians have had with the program .
These experiences form a foundation of improved trust in medical research and increased understanding of the value that research studies like the AGHI brings to the communities they seek to positively impact . This impact is made through increasing our understanding of the diseases and health conditions that may have underlying genetic risks . Similarly , expanding our understanding of how well certain medications work within Alabama ‘ s diverse communities fits with our goal of identifying more targeted and effective therapies for the treatment of disease . aghi . org 15