Abstract B084: Empowering community health educators: Curriculum development and training outcomes from the ACT WONDER2s study

Abstract Purpose: To develop, implement, and evaluate a comprehensive Community Health Educator (CHE) training curriculum about educating community members on cancer clinical trials (CCTs) as part of the ACT WONDER2S study. ACT WONDER2S is a multilevel intervention to increase referral and enrollment of Black and Hispanic patients to therapeutic CCTs. We undertook an extensive process to identify training needs, content, and modalities to train CHEs on how to educate and link community members and patients to CCTs. Methods: Development of the curriculum consisted of literature review on adult learning theory, CCT education, cancer health disparities, and patient navigation. We also consulted with key cancer center stakeholders on institutional-specific services, identified lay friendly education and training, and sought feedback from the study community advisory board (CAB). The curriculum consisted of three phases including: 1) independent review of training materials 2) a two day in-person training involving didactic lectures, panel discussions, and interactive activities facilitated by multidisciplinary experts from the clinical trials office, equity department, social work, financial clearance, and various cancer center physicians, and 3) hands on-practice delivering CCT education to community members. Knowledge was assessed following phase 2 training using a pre- and post-test with questions for key focus areas (scales 0-2, 0 = low knowledge and 2 = high knowledge) and subsequently re-scaled to 100%. CHEs self-reported training usefulness and satisfaction were collected following phase 2 training. Results: Four CHEs completed the training from June 2024 to September 2024. CHEs had increased mean knowledge scores by 32.4% following the training. Knowledge gain was most pronounced regarding community outreach, patient navigation and social services, and the ACT WONDER2S study (∼42%). All CHEs scored highly on post-training usefulness with a score of (10 out of 10) and satisfaction with the training (10 out of 10). Conclusion: The CHE training curriculum enhanced CHE knowledge relating to CCTs, patient navigation, engaging community partners, and working with diverse populations, physicians, and the cancer center. Following the training, the CHEs were prepared to begin community outreach, build and maintain community organization partnerships, effectively deliver the CCT education module to diverse community residents, and serve as a bridge between community residents and Moffitt through patient navigation. This approach for training CHEs regarding clinical trials can be adapted for use in a variety of settings. Citation Format: Juanita Carbajal, Delilah Hernandez, Christian Church, Susan T. Vadaparampi. Empowering community health educators: Curriculum development and training outcomes from the ACT WONDER2s study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 18th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities; 2025 Sep 18-21; Baltimore, MD. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2025;34(9 Suppl):Abstract nr B084.