For women in developing countries, how can cultural barriers be overcome to ensure they get mammograms, which could save their lives?
This question was asked of 15 corporate communications and public affairs students who participated in a summer workshop at the Ormylia Foundation Panagia Philanthropini in northern Greece, along with radiologists and advocates from six developing countries. They had gathered to learn about breast cancer from some of the world’s top radiologists and about communication issues that need to be addressed in those countries. CCPA senior lecturers Tony Kroll and Kathy LaTour (’74, ’83) also spoke to workshop participants about identifying and overcoming communication barriers.
In developing countries, cultural barriers such as religion or spousal influence often prevent women from seeking the services they need.
Students learned that breast cancer remains the leading cause of death for women in developing countries, because even when free screening programs are available, cultural barriers such as religion or spousal influence often prevent women from seeking the services they need.
At the workshop students conducted interviews with participants from Eritrea, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Egypt, Turkey and Greece to help identify specific communication barriers faced by each country. “They teamed up and conducted interviews with the participants to collect data that helped them offer some preliminary information about cultural barriers by the end of the three-day workshop,” says LaTour, now editor-at-large for CURE and Heal magazines in Dallas. Four students presented their findings and potential applications, including recommending which media might be successful and in which cases media would be ineffective due to issues with literacy.
Senior Candy Crespo interviewed a radiologist from Eritrea who was late to the workshop after being detained by government officials in his country. “He is one of only three radiologists for the population of 4 million, and they didn’t want him to leave the country,” she says. “But he wanted to learn how to help the women of his country, so he made it happen.”
Students attended the workshop through a grant from Susan G. Komen for the CURE, the largest nonprofit funding organization for breast cancer in the United States, and through Meadows Edge for Excellence funds provided for unique student projects by The Meadows Foundation. Kroll says that a number of the relationships have created opportunities that could provide global research for students interested in pursuing health communications.