October 12, 2017

HPRC Awarded $250,000 for Cancer Patient Navigation Study

Wendy Barrington to Lead New Study

Cancer prevention and control programs increasingly use patient navigation as an evidence-based approach to facilitate continuity and quality of care among vulnerable patients. A new CDC-funded Special Interest Project, titled “Formative Study of Patient Navigators with the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) and the Colorectal Cancer Control Program (CRCCP)” aims to characterize patient navigators’ background, roles and responsibilities, work environment, and training and technical assistance needs.

The Health Promotion Research Center’s principal investigator for this one-year project is Wendy Barrington, an assistant professor in the UW School of Nursing and School of Public Health, whose research interest areas include social determinants and health disparities, neighborhood effects, obesity, and cancer. Her team on this project includes co-investigators Allison Cole and Peggy Hannon.

“Navigators are really champions of communities and patients, and they work at a grassroots level to promote cancer prevention and survivorship, especially for those who have been marginalized,” said Barrington. “We hope to have a clearer understanding of who is providing this critical service so that we may better support them in their work. Ultimately, we hope this work can contribute to optimizing strategies for reducing cancer disparities.”