Prostate cancer in African American men: increasing knowledge and self-efficacy.

An educational and screening program for prostate cancer designed to increase knowledge and self-efficacy in African American men was provided in African American churches in a major midwestern city. Modeling was provided by trained lay educators who were African American men previously diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer and who could serve as role models of the desired behaviors. Pretests and posttests developed for this study and provided to the participants were the Prostate Cancer Screening Knowledge Inventory and the Prostate Cancer Screening Self-Efficacy Scale. Paired t tests demonstrated that after completing the church-based intervention, participants had significantly improved knowledge and self-efficacy scores related to prostate cancer screening.