A Review of the Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered (FORCE) Peer Navigation Program

Peer navigation programs in the cancer community were created approximately 30 years ago to provide education and support to patients. Peer navigation programs are significant in public health, as they address health inequities and remove barriers to access of care in underserved communities. Through one-on-one peer relationships, peer navigation programs can supply patients with compassion and guidance to help them navigate their journey through disease and healing. The literature has shown there are benefits of peer navigation to participants, such as improved mental health. Despite research suggesting that peer navigation programs can improve health outcomes in underserved populations, few digital-based peer navigation programs exist and have been assessed by researchers. Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered (FORCE) created a peer navigation program in 2016 in which participants can sign up on the FORCE website to be matched to a navigator who will communicate with them online or on the phone. This essay analyzes participant and navigator demographics, interests, and health information collected from January 2018 to August 2022. These data were obtained from surveys completed on the FORCE website by patients and caregivers signing up for the peer navigation program, or cancer previvors or survivors signing up to volunteer as a navigator. From this analysis, findings show that Black and Male patients, who are underrepresented in this program and the hereditary cancer community, generally are interested in receiving information that most participants are also interested in. However, it was found that a significant number of Black participants have not had genetic testing, and several Black participants were interested in receiving information about paying for genetic counseling and testing. This may suggest that this population would benefit from receiving more information regarding health insurance and accessibility to genetic services. It is recommended that FORCE implement a post-experience survey to gather information about what services patients would like to receive. Additionally, it was found that participants with less common cancers or genetic mutations may not match to a navigator with the same health history. This finding suggests that targeted recruitment efforts should be created to meet the needs of these patients.