Redes II National Patient Navigator Intervention Study

The purpose of this study is to assess the efficacy of a "patient navigator" program that uses a trained community lay health worker to assist Hispanic patients in utilizing cancer care services. This study is a two part study. The first part of the study consists of a retrospective data collection procedure called "baseline clinical chart audit" of 50 Hispanic women over 18 years of age who have had a mammography abnormality classified as BI-RADS 3, 4 or 5. These data will be drawn from the study clinic's existing records and will serve as baseline data for subjects recruited during the course of the study. The second part of the study, the intervention group, involves the recruitment of 50 low-income, Hispanic women who receive abnormal breast cancer screening results (also classified as BI-RADS 3, 4 or 5) from screening services at local community health clinics. Participants will have significantly higher compliance rates and significantly shorter time lags and between an abnormal screening result, and confirmatory screening tests and commencement of treatment, compared to our baseline. The investigators expect at least a 12% increase in after-screening compliance rate and a 25% reduction in time lags in the treatment group, in relation to the pre-intervention baseline assessment.