The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #62398

Sora Park Tanjasiri, DrPH, MPH¹, Jacqueline Tran², Mary Anne Foo, MPH², Heng L. Foong³, Marjorie Kagawa-Singer, RN, MN, PhD⁴, Susan Lee⁵, Tu-Uyen Ngoc Nguyen, MPH⁴, Jordan Rickles⁶, and Jennifer S. Wang⁶. (1) Urban & Regional Planning, UCI School of Social Ecology, MPAA 328, Irvine, CA 92697-7075, 949-824-7422, tanjasir@uci.edu, (2) Orange County Asian Pacific Islander Community Alliance, 12900 Garden Grove Blvd, #214A, Garden Grove, CA 92843, (3) PALS for Health, 605 Olympic Blvd.600, Los Angeles, CA 90015, (4) School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, Box 951772, Los Angeles, CA 90095, (5) Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Allilance, 12900 Garden Grove Blvd, #214A, Garden Grove, CA 92843, (6) Ralph and Goldy Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, UCLA School of Public Policy and Social Research, 3250 Public Policy Building, Los Angeles, CA 90095

Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander women have the lowest screening rates for cancer compared to all other ethnic groups, yet few programs have specifically targeted AAPI women to promote and sustain screening practices. While many studies have focused on individual-level factors predicting screening, none that we know of have looked directly at community and ecological influences. The goal of the project, “Promoting Access to Health (PATH) for Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander Women,” is to increase community capacity for breast and cervical cancer screening and follow-up in Los Angeles and Orange counties. PATH involves a partnership between four community-based organizations and two universities, and includes seven Asian Pacific Islander communities. In this presentation, we will share our experiences in developing a GIS-mapping evaluation component to explore access to breast and cervical cancer screening services for women in all seven communities – Cambodians, Chamorros, Laotians, Thais, Tongans, Samoans and Vietnamese. We describe the data collection instrument and methods, as well as preliminary data analyses which point to significant distances between populations and language-specific health care providers and services for breast and cervical cancer screening and follow-up. Implications for programs and policy will be discussed.

Learning Objectives:

• Health care access issues for Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander communities
• Application of GIS mapping techniques to measure and evaluate changes in health care access
• Baseline data from a community cancer control effort in Southern California

Keywords: Access to Care, Asian and Pacific Islander Women

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.