Women’s Cancer Prevention

Women’s Cancer Prevention Among Latinas

Breast and cervical cancer are highly treatable when detected early through screening. Hispanics in the US are more likely get diagnosed at later stages and die from breast and cervical cancer than White non-Hispanics. We are learning from Hispanic women in Indiana to promote the best ways to address breast and cervical cancer disparities.

Projects

Cervical Cancer Disparities in Lake County, Indiana and Attitudes Toward Screening Innovations

We engaged with community health workers, medical providers, and people who live areas with high rates of cervical cancer. We aimed to understand what makes it easy or difficult to get screened for cervical cancer, and what people think about innovative screening methods, such as HPV self-sampling and rapid testing.

Community Assessment of Women’s Cancer Prevention Among Latinas in Tippecanoe County

We talked to Hispanic women and community partners in Tippecanoe County, Indiana to learn about their needs, barriers, and strengths when it comes to getting screened for breast and cervical cancer. This will help us create interventions that are meaningful and culturally-informed.

Babu, M. S., Kasting, M. L., & Rodriguez, N. M. (2025). Association between health insurance coverage and stage of diagnosis for cervical cancer among females in Indiana from 2011-2019. Preventive Medicine Reports, 50, 102975. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2025.102975

Adekunle, T. B., Arreola, A., Sembian, S., Castro, R., Claure, L., Balian, L., & Rodriguez, N. M. (2023). Feasibility and anticipated acceptability of community health worker-facilitated HPV self-sampling for cervical cancer screening around Lake County, Indiana. Journal of clinical and translational science, 7(1), e157. https://doi.org/10.1017/cts.2023.578

Rodriguez, N. M., Brennan, L. P., Claure, L., Balian, L. N., Champion, V. L., & Forman, M. R. (2023). Leveraging COVID-era innovation for cervical cancer screening: Clinician awareness and attitudes toward self-sampling and rapid testing for HPV detection. PloS one, 18(3), e0282853. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0282853

Casanova, F., Knaul, F. M., & Rodriguez, N. M. (2021). Harvesting Health Knowledge: Breast Cancer Perceptions in the South Florida Latinx Farmworker Community. Qualitative health research, 31(8), 1423–1436. https://doi.org/10.1177/10497323211003542

Rodriguez, N.M., Casanova, F., Pages, G., Claure, L., Pedreira, M., Touchton, M., & Knaul, F. (2020). Community-based participatory design of a community health worker breast cancer training intervention for South Florida Latinx farmworkers. PloS one. 15(10), e0240827. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240827

Knaul, F. M., Rodriguez, N. M., Arreola-Ornelas, H., & Olson, J. R. (2019). Cervical cancer: lessons learned from neglected tropical diseases. The Lancet. Global health, 7(3), e299–e300. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(18)30533-3