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

Abstract #73020

Marjorie Kagawa-Singer, RN, MN, PhD¹, Susan Lee², Mary Anne Foo, MPH², Heng L. Foong³, Tu-Uyen Ngoc Nguyen, MPH¹, Sora Park Tanjasiri, DrPH, MPH⁴, and Jacqueline Tran². (1) School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, Box 951772, Los Angeles, CA 90095, 310 825-9481, mkagawa@ucla.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) Urban & Regional Planning, UCI School of Social Ecology, MPAA 328, Irvine, CA 92697-7075

Breast cancer is the leading site for cancer incidence and mortality for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women in the nation, and cervical cancer incidence rates for Asian American and Pacific Islander women are higher than for white women. Yet Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women have the lowest screening rates for cancer compared to all other ethnic groups, and few programs have specifically targeted AAPI women to promote and sustain screening practices. . 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. PATH utilizes a Participatory Action Research model, and involves a partnership between 4 community-based organizations and 2 universities. Seven primarily mono-lingual Asian Pacific Islander communities are involved in this study: Cambodian, Chamorro, Laotian, Samoan, Thai, Tongan, and Vietnamese. We will present data from the baseline survey of 920 women in four of the ethnic groups in the intervention area (Southern California) and 920 in the same four groups in the comparison communities (Northern California): Cambodian, Laotian, Thai and Tongan. This presentation reports on rates of breast and cervical cancer screening, knowledge and attitudes about breast and cervical cancer and screening guidelines, access to care, and experience with discrimination and other ecological barriers to care. Notably, this presentation constitutes the first report of cancer screening practices among the Laotian and Thai communities in the U.S.

Learning Objectives:

• the quasiexperimental design of the PATH evaluation;
• the methods undertaken to collect baseline data in the Cambodian, Lao, Thai and Tongan communities;
• the results in terms of baseline demographics, as well as screening knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors.

Keywords: Asian and Pacific Islander, Cancer Prevention

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.