Development and implementation of a curriculum on cancer screening for small groups of Latino women

Health programs tailored to serve Latino communities with limited access to health care are necessary. The methods used to develop breast and cervical cancer educational programs and to evaluate their implementation are presented. A 12-session curriculum was developed to guide weekly group sessions led by trained community health advisors (ie, consejeras). The curriculum has been implemented and revised over time. Assessments of the extent to which the curriculum educational objectives were met were based on diaries completed by consejeras at the end of the educational sessions and observation ratings of randomly selected educational sessions. The facilitator's guide includes, for each educational session, (1) information about the materials that will be needed for the session, (2) educational objectives, and (3) scripted text to guide the session. The curriculum has been successfully implemented and represents a carefully constructed tool to foster breast and cervical early detection in underserved Latino communities.