Abstract B094: Building trust as the foundation for successful cancer awareness initiatives in underserved racial/ethnic minority communities

Abstract Introduction: Racial and ethnic minorities often face disparities in cancer screening, leading to delayed diagnoses and poorer outcomes. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) presents inherent complexity due to the dynamic and multifaceted nature of the targeted communities. The Synergistic Partnership for Enhancing Equity in Cancer Health (SPEECH) is a regional, comprehensive cancer health disparity initiative jointly led by Temple University/Fox Chase Cancer Center and Hunter College (TUFCCC/HC). A key component of the SPEECH Partnership is to reduce cancer health disparities through community engagement and capacity building in medically underserved racial/ethnic minority communities. This study aims to highlight the strategies employed to conduct community engagement and implement cancer prevention initiatives and describe the socioeconomic and cancer screening related profiles of a medically underserved, multi-racial cohort under a comprehensive regional cancer partnership between a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center and a minority serving institute. Methods: A total of 1,282 participants in greater Philadelphia and New York City metropolitan areas were recruited through community-based strategies. To facilitate successful recruitment and implementation of cancer prevention initiatives, we established shared goals and values, fostered open communication about benefits and risks, and facilitated regular communications and resource sharing. We employed measures centered around themes that directly addressed issues regarding time, funding/resources availability, communication channels, and institutional stability, thereby enhancing trust development and facilitating change. Results: The community cohort consisted of 21.6% Black, 47.9% Asian, and 21.7% Hispanic participants. Over two-thirds of participants had no college education, and 37.6% reported limited English proficiency. Most participants resided in census tracts with poverty levels ranging from 0-25% and 25-50%, while few participants lived in areas with higher poverty levels of 50-75%. These demographic characteristics demonstrate the successful recruitment of underserved racial/ethnic minorities through our community-based strategies. Conclusion: By employing community-based recruitment strategies that prioritized trust-building, genuine mutual respect, recognition, and support among all partners, we successfully engaged underserved racial and ethnic minorities in the U54 COC cohort. These strategies laid the groundwork for targeted cancer prevention initiatives aimed at reducing cancer health disparities. Our findings highlight that trust-building is fundamental for the success and sustainability of CBPR partnerships. We view "trust" not as a fixed endpoint but as a dynamic, multi-dimensional, and bi-directional process involving both the demonstration and cultivation of trust. Citation Format: Zhiqing E. Liu, Wenyue Lu, Evelyn T. González, Sara Soonsik Kim, Marilyn A. Fraser, Tenya Blackwell, Kathy Zhou, Steven Zhu, Lin Zhu, Grace X. Ma, Ming-Chin Yeh, Yin Tan. Building trust as the foundation for successful cancer awareness initiatives in underserved racial/ethnic minority communities [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 17th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2024 Sep 21-24; Los Angeles, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2024;33(9 Suppl):Abstract nr B094.