Esperanza y Vida© consists of two innovative community outreach programs: a breast and cervical cancer program and a diabetes prevention program. Both programs provide a spiritually based and culturally competent method for reaching the Hispanic/Latino community in order to increase breast and cervical cancer and diabetes knowledge and screening behaviors. As part of our goal, the educational information is provided by Hispanic/Latino breast or cervical cancer survivors, diabetes role models, and lay health educators in churches and other faith-based organizations as well as community settings, to evaluate the effectiveness of the program among Hispanics/Latinos.
An important consideration in the development of Esperanza y Vida© is that it involves more than a tranlsation of materials and messages; it is culturally tailored for appropriateness and competency. Esperanza y Vida©: 1) is a distinct spiritual program, 2) provides direct access to survivors or role models, and 3) provides a way to inform males in the Hispanic/Latino community about breast and cervical cancer and diabetes health. The cancer survivors and the diabetes role models in Esperanza y Vida© provide direct evidence and responses to issues of fatalism that are so prevalent in the Hispanic/Latino culture. Presented to small groups, the program provides a method for building on family and community relationships to affect the larger cultural context to promote behavior change.
Developing Esperanza y Vida© in collaboration with three different Hispanic/Latino groups in NYC, Puerto Rican, Dominican and Mexican, allowed for a broad scope of cultural variation and the ability to examine specific intercultural variablitiy with respect to beliefs, access to resources and screening barriers. This included meetings with Hispanics/Latinos and community leaders to develop the culturally appropriate programmatic guidelines, distinct name and logo, and training materials for teaching and reaching other Hispanics/Latinos through churches and community groups.
Esperanza y Vida© empowers individual groups of women and men in our communities to take ownership of a cancer and diabetes control activity that produces long-term results, continuity of resources in the community for years, and increases behavioral impact over time.
Esperanza y Vida 