2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo

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Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

327361
An Evidence-Based Colorectal Cancer Screening Intervention for Underserved Korean Americans


Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Grace X. Ma, PhD, Center for Asian Health, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Shumenghui Zhai, MPH, Center for Asian Health, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Joanne Rhee, MSW, Center for Asian Health, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Min Qi Wang, PhD, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Yin Tan, MD, MPH, Center for Asian Health, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Brenda Seals, PhD, MPH, Center for Asian Health, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Micah Park, Young Sang Church, Horsham, PA
Jamil I. Toubbeh, PhD, Center for Asian Health, Department of Public Health, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Background: Although the efficacy of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening has been demonstrated as a viable preventive measure against the development of the disease, various studies indicated that CRC screening rates among Koreans are extremely low for every type of CRC screening. Studies to date have not documented why CRC is increasing in the Korean population when it is stable or falling in almost every other United States (US) group. Korean men ranked the second highest in incidence and mortality from CRC compared with those of non-Hispanic White men. Among Korean women, CRC is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer and the third highest for cancer mortality.

 Methods: 30 Korean churches were recruited in NJ and PA states and randomly assigned to either intervention or control group. A total of 1445 participants were recruited and enrolled from these churches. Those in the intervention group received a culturally tailored intervention, including education session, take-home materials, patient navigation assistance and support from church health missionary staff.  Participants in the control group had intervention on promoting health checkup activities. Assessment data was collected at baseline, post-intervention, and 12-month follow-up.

 Results: 12-month follow up data indicated that participants in intervention group had significantly higher screening rate (69.4%) than participants in the control group (29.0%). These findings will help public health community design programs that can impact cancer screening behavior in underserved communities, thus to reduce cancer disparities

 Conclusion: Engaging and empowering communities is an effective approach to address cancer disparities in Korean Americans.

Learning Areas:

Diversity and culture
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Public health or related education
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
Describe the colorectal cancer disparities in Korean Americans Define strategies of working with Korean American community for health program development, implementation and evaluation.

Keyword(s): Cancer Prevention and Screening, Asian Americans

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been the principal or co-principal of multiple federally funded grants focusing on Behavioral Health Intervention Trials, Health Disparities/Transcultural Health Care (Asian Americans and Ethnic Minority Populations,)Cancer Prevention and Intervention for over the past decade. I have received over 55 grant awards from various sources, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to conduct research in my expertise areas.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4185.0: Cancer Prevention and Survivorship Research Across Diverse Populations