Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-17-2024
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Despite the importance of community involvement in research, little formal training in community outreach and engagement (COE) is offered to cancer research trainees. A collaboration between the Office of COE and the Office of Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination (CRTEC) at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Jefferson led to the COE-CRTEC Trainee Working Group, a unique program in which trainees in cancer research each created a novel COE initiative.
METHODS: Four cancer research trainees were selected to serve as COE Program Liaisons (CPLs), each aligned with one of the four cancer center research programs. Each CPL developed, implemented, and evaluated a project that enhanced the bidirectional relationship between their research and the community. Trainees were provided a modest budget, support from the Office of COE, and a requirement to complete the project within one academic year.
RESULTS: Projects included a cancer education seminar for older adults at a senior center, a prostate cancer education and screening event at a predominantly African American church, a video demonstrating a day in the life of a skin cancer researcher, and a podcast that featured SKCCC investigators answering research questions from community members.
CONCLUSION: Students who would not typically be exposed to COE training gained experience developing, implementing, and evaluating community-based initiatives. Projects were diverse in topic and approach, reflecting the diversity of the trainees and the community. Allowing trainees, those who are the next generation of cancer researchers, to design community-based research may lead to more patient-centered research in the future.
Recommended Citation
Melillo, Rebecca J.; El Khoury, Christiane; Shaver, Amy L.; Cunningham, Moriah L.; Benavides, Nathalia; Lacerda, Quezia; Kim, Felix J.; and Leader, Amy E., "A Student-Community Partnership to Enhance Cancer Research Training" (2024). Kimmel Cancer Center Faculty Papers. Paper 137.
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/kimmelccfp/137
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Language
English
Comments
This article is the author's final published version in BMC Medical Education, Volume 24, Issue 1, October 2024, Article number 1164.
The published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-06144-0.
Copyright © The Author(s) 2024.