Abstract
Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) increases the risk for hepatocellular carcinoma. Despite higher prevalence of HCV in persons born 1945–1965 (baby boomer), screening has not been widely adopted. Both primary care providers (PCPs) and associate care providers (ACPs) need to be educated about the rationale and methods to screen for HCV. In five Federally Qualified Health Centers serving low-income Hispanic communities, PCPs and ACPs attended a 50-min training lecture about HCV epidemiology, screening methods, and evaluation. Using a 12-item questionnaire, knowledge and attitudes were compared for PCPs and ACPs at baseline (pre-test) and following training (post-test). A higher proportion of PCPs correctly answered 3 of 6 knowledge questions on both pre-test and post-test but ACPs’ showed more improvement in knowledge (all P < 0.05). ACPs had more favorable attitudes about linking patients to care on pre- and post-tests than PCPs, and ACPs’ attitudes improved on all 6 items versus 4 for PCPs. Both PCPs and ACPs improved knowledge and attitudes after training about HCV screening but ACPs had more favorable attitudes than PCPs. Engaging the entire primary care practice team in learning about HCV screening promotes knowledge and attitudes necessary for successful implementation.
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Deidentified data set is available on request.
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This work was supported by the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (grant numbers PP150079, PP180091).
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Flores, Bertha: investigation, visualization, writing-original draft, writing-review, and edit; Fernandez, Andrea: project administration, writing-original draft, writing-review, and edit; Wang, Chen-Pin: formal analysis, writing-original draft, writing-review, and edit; Bobadilla, Raudel: investigation, writing-review, and edit; Hernandez, Ludivina: investigation, writing-review; Jain, Mamta: conceptualization, funding acquisition, writing-review; Turner, Barbara: conceptualization, methodology, visualization, supervision, funding acquisition, writing-original draft, writing-review, and edit
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The University of Texas Health Science Center of San Antonio Institutional Review Board classified these projects as non-research, exempt (HSC20150575N and HSC20190440N.)
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Flores, B.E., Fernandez, A.A., Wang, CP. et al. Educating Primary Care Providers and Associate Care Providers About Hepatitis C Screening of Baby Boomers: a Multi-practice Study. J Canc Educ 37, 217–223 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-020-01805-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-020-01805-2