According to the American Cancer Society, "African American women with breast cancer are 67 percent more likely to die from the disease than white women." Margaret Barton-Burke, the Mary Ann Lee Endowed Professor of Oncology Nursing at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, is preparing a study for black women breast cancer survivors.
This is the first study concerning black women breast cancer survivors that UM-St. Louis has conducted. To do this, UM-St. Louis is seeking African American breast cancer survivors to participate in the research project.
UM-St. Louis is asking for participants to complete questionnaires concentrating on how their lives were before and after they were diagnosed with breast cancer.
This is the second year that this project has been going on and is paying all participants a stipend upon their completion. The information gathered from the surveys will help health care professionals provide a better care to the diversity of patient population.
The purpose of this project is to help put out as much information to the community about breast cancer as possible. This information will better help people detect symptoms early. If found early, there is a chance that doctors can find it and catch it in time. There will also be a better outcome from the treatment.
Kathy Castulik, a health educator with University Health Services, organizes multiple on-campus awareness and outreach events. These awareness fairs help educate people on how breast cancer is developed and also on how important it is to get mammograms.
According to Castulik, "African Americans are at a higher risk…due to lifestyle."
Specific choices that will make anyone at higher risk are eating habits, willingness to get checkups, and exercising. If there is someone in your family with breast cancer and you are under the age of forty, the breast cancer awareness association is asking that you get a mammography screening.
On October 14 2009, UM-St. Louis will be holding a Breast Cancer awareness event. There will be mammography exams provided by Missouri Baptist, which will be partnering with University Health Services. There will be tables set up dispensing information on breast cancer. Between 800 and 1,000 people will show up to get examined, both men and women.
UM-St. Louis health educators have learned that breast cancer is not only found in women, but also in men. Although women are 100 times more likely to get breast cancer, any male can develop breast cancer.
The Mayo Clinic tells us that "Male breast cancer is most common between the ages of 60 and 70."
Current care has been based on what has been learned from Caucasian women who were diagnosed with breast cancer.
UM-St. Louis is asking for survivors from the African American community to share their experiences so that health care professionals will have a better understanding of how breast cancer impacted their lives.
The university has received a lot of positive feedback regarding this study. UM-St. Louis ran their first ad in the St. Louis newspaper and since then 50 new women have been included in their study.
This has affected UM-St. Louis greatly because it has help build a trust between the university and the community.
Health educators at the university believe that this project will be of significance because it will educate the community about how important it is to get regular checkups and mammograms.
Ebony Smith, an advisor of the breast cancer study says, "Our ultimate goal for this study is to increase mammography…especially in the African American community".
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