Development of a Tailored Intervention to Promote Breast Cancer Screening among Immigrant Asian Women Residing in the US

摘要

Breast cancer is the leading diagnosed cancer in Asian American women. American women are more likely to receive a diagnosis in the advanced stages of the disease, primarily because of late detection. Understanding the cultural barriers to receipt of breast cancer screening (BCS) by Asian women and developing culturally appropriate programs to promote their use of BCS has become an urgent need in southeastern Michigan, where the Asian population has been growing rapidly. The primary objective of the proposed project is to obtain a better understanding of those factors affecting BCS practices among Asian women residing in southeastern Michigan. The preliminary findings from the focus groups meetings conducted in 40 women from Taiwan, Korea, Philippines and India showed that there are common and unique barriers toward BCS and these barriers may be linked to their cultural background and health care received in their native countries. The information will be used to develop a culturally- sensitive instrument to measure BCS practices and correlates and administered to 188 Asian women. At the completion of this study, it is expected that the results of this project will contribute to the understanding of BCS utilization and factors affecting BCS practices in immigrant Asian women.