Effectiveness of Young Adult Community Health Advisor (YACHA)

Name: Effectiveness of Young Adult Community Health Advisor (YACHA)
Start: 2025-09-21T15:00:00+05:45
End: 2025-09-21T16:30:00+05:45
Location: Post Box 13470, 27 Jeet Jung Marg Thapathali, Kathmandu, Nepal 44600

Schedule

Sun Sep 21 2025 at 03:00 pm to 04:30 pm

UTC+05:45

Location

Post Box 13470, 27 Jeet Jung Marg Thapathali, Kathmandu, Nepal 44600 | Kathmandu, BA

Research Seminar Series
Title:
Effectiveness of Young Adult Community Health Advisor (YACHA)-led Intervention to Increase Colorectal Cancer Screening Uptake among South Asians in Hong Kong: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Speaker:
Tika Rana, PhD, RN
Postdoctoral Fellow, The Nethersole School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Date, Time and Venue:
21 September 2025/५ असोज २०८२ (आइतबार, दिउँसो ३ बजे)
Martin Chautari Seminar Hall, Thapathali, Kathmandu
LIVE:
www.fb.com/martinchautari.f
www.youtube.com/mchautari
Abstract:
Purpose of the study
This study aimed at assessing the effectiveness of young adult community health advisor (YACHA)-led intervention to increase uptake of colorectal (CRC) screening among asymptomatic South Asians aged 50 and 75 residing in Hong Kong and understanding the effectiveness and acceptability of the YACHA-led intervention.
Methods:
A randomised controlled trial (RCT) design was adopted, and South Asian adults aged between 50 and 75 years were recruited in the study. The recruited participants were randomly allocated to either YACHA-led intervention or control group. Participants from the intervention group received YACHA-led intervention which included an educational session, phone follow-up calls and provision of navigation service whereas participants from control group received same intervention after completion of all assessment from intervention group. The outcome of the study measured the uptake of CRC screening with faecal immunochemical test (FIT). Acceptability of the YACHA-led intervention was measured through semi-structured interviews with 25 participants from the intervention group.
Results and discussion:
A total of 80 participants with a mean age of 58.91 (+6.38) years participated in the study. The findings show that YACHA-led intervention was effective and acceptable to improve CRC screening uptake among asymptomatic South Asians. The proportion of South Asians adults from the YACHA-led intervention had significantly higher CRC screening uptake when compared with the number of participants from the control group (85.7% vs 2.5%, p < .001). All the intervention group participants agreed that they were satisfied with and understood the measures provided to them during the intervention.
Conclusions:
This study demonstrates the effectiveness of YACHA-led intervention in improving CRC screening uptake among asymptomatic South Asians in Hong Kong. The trained YACHAs played a crucial role in addressing the barriers encountered by the older adults in the community and enhancing the uptake rate of CRC screening. Thus, it is suggested that YACHA-led intervention be designed to empower the members from less privileged groups and to improve healthcare access and utilization of the health services.
About the Speaker:
Dr Tika Rana is organically from Jaimini Municipality, Baglung, Nepal. She completed a BSc in Nursing from Nepal in 2013, and then she moved to Hong Kong. She did an MSc in Infection Control and a PhD in Nursing from Hong Kong. Currently, she is working as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Nethersole School of Nursing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research focuses on prevention of cancer through empowerment.