Peer Review

Face Your Health is an educational outreach program to encourage African American women to get screened for cervical cancer. ace Your Health was designed for African American women aged 21 to 65 who have never been screened for cervical cancer, or who don’t get screened regularly. It’s especially important for African American women to make getting screened for cervical cancer a priority. Many women do not understand why they need screening, when they should be screened, and how they can be screened. They may also face situations that make it harder to get screened, such as lack of insurance coverage or access to a regular health care provider or clinic. The bottom line? This doesn’t have to happen. Regular screening can help prevent cervical cancer or help find it early, when it’s easier to treat. Face Your Health encourages women to know their risk, get screened, and be the face of change. Community-oriented: Face Your Health was developed by researchers at CDC with input from experienced African American community health workers (CHWs) and program administrators. CHWs and other lay health educators deliver learning sessions in a variety of settings. Audience-friendly: The learning session and materials are easy to follow and understand. Visual aids engage women with different levels of reading skills and health knowledge. Flexible: CHWs can adapt the learning session for the number of participants, time available, and setting. The session can stand alone or be combined with another health topic. Effective: The program is rooted in scientific evidence, based on proven behavior change theories, and adapted from a program shown to increase cervical cancer screening in Hispanic women in a scientific study. Face Your Health’s main messages and handouts were tested with African American women. Interactive: Games and other activities help review and reinforce information, promote discussion, and address concerns. Easy to use: Face Your Health can be integrated easily into outreach work CHWs are already doing. A lesson plan guides the sessions. Materials can be customized and printed on a desktop printer.

• Reference Material
• Educational outreach program

• Additional resource for healthcare
• In-class
• Homework
• Individual/self-paced
• community groups or organizations

• Internet access
• Accessed via a major browser- for posters, need printer as well

After completion of this learning activity, the learner will

• Identify the importance of cervical cancer screening for African American women
• Describe the uniqueness of cervical cancer screening for African American women

The information is targeted at African American Women aged 21-65. However, in an educational setting, it could be a resource for high school or college courses discussing/having assignments in cervical cancer screening.

• High School
• College General Ed
• College Lower Division
• College Upper Division
• Graduate School
• Professional

• Basic computer skills to navigate the website