Community-engaged Research and Cancer Disparities.

Catalog description

Semester course; 3 lecture hours (delivered online). 3 credits. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. This course is designed to engage students from diverse disciplines, including social sciences, public health and basic sciences, to learn more about community-engaged research as a viable approach to address cancer health disparities. The course provides an overview of community-engaged research, of cancer health disparities and of understanding the significant role of social determinants as a contributing factor -- as well as a viable conceptual framework to addressing -- cancer disparities. The focus of this class is on learning to apply community-engaged research approaches to address cancer disparities. Community-engaged research is framed as an evidentiary approach that strongly aligns with the translational research continuum. This course will be highly interactive with a strong emphasis placed on engaging the learner with the course materials. Students will use VoiceThread (freely available to VCU students), a web-based application that allows them to use images, slides, videos and documents to create presentations that will allow others to view and respond as part of an asynchronous conversation. As part of their engaged experience, students will interview two cancer survivors to learn more about their experiences and to obtain their input on areas of improvement along the continuum of cancer prevention and control. Finally, students will develop a cancer research plan that provides the opportunity to apply their community-engaged research knowledge to address a cancer disparity of their choice.