The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #48349

Kim B. Kim, PhD¹, Hae-Ra Han, RN, PhD², Jai P. Ryu, PhD¹, Gina Pistulka, RN, MPH², and Miyong Kim, RN, PhD². (1) Korean Resource Center, 425 E. Federal Street, Baltimore, MD 21202, 410-347-0311, kbkim@korean-center.org, (2) The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, 525 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205

Smoking is a common way of socializing for Korean American (KA) men. While the rate of current smoking among KA men is at a record high compared to other ethnic groups, smoking among Korean women is rare. Our recent focus group study indicated that although about half of the current KA smokers want to quit smoking, they feel that existing smoking cessation programs would not be helpful because of language and cultural barriers. In response to this need, the Korean Resource Center (KRC), a non-profit community organization, in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, developed anti-smoking initiatives to reduce smoking in the Maryland Korean community and overcome health disparities in the population. We established partnerships with local health departments and Korean community organizations, including churches, health care providers, social clubs, and news media. The initiatives included an on-going, behavioral education-based, standardized smoking cessation program and support groups, a long-running anti-tobacco media campaign in the Korean language, training sessions targeting health care providers who deal with KA clients, and several innovative community events such as group smoking cessation contests. Our anti-smoking initiatives that began with health care provider training have resulted in an increased awareness of the problem among the participants, and an improved referral system to smoking cessation classes within the Korean healthcare provider network. Our next step is to enroll current KA smokers in our 4-week smoking cessation program and once-a-month support group meetings, and to conduct an intensive anti-smoking campaign using Korean language media.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to

• Describe a community-based approach to reduce health disparities among Korean Americans by developing anti-smoking initiatives; and
• Identify culturally sensitive anti-smoking interventions to reach out to the linguistic and cultural minority group.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.