4245.0: Tuesday, November 14, 2000 - 5:30 PM

Abstract #5094

Building the capacity of community health clinics to provide breast and cervical cancer services to Asian American and Pacific Islander women

Karen R. Rezai, MPH1, Tu-Uyen Nguyen, MPH2, Marjorie Kagawa-Singer, RN, MN, PhD2, and Jeffrey Caballero, MPH1. (1) Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations, 1440 Broadway, Suite 510, Oakland, CA 94612, 510 272-9536, krezai@aapcho.org, (2) School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, Box 951772, Los Angeles, CA 90095, 310 825-9481, tuuyen@ucla.edu

AAPCHO's CARE Program (A Community Approach to Responding Early) aims to reduce disparate breast and cervical cancer (BCC) morbidity and mortality rates among Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women by buiding the capacity of community health clinics (CHCs) to deliver effective and culturally/linguistically appropriate BCC services.

The CARE model is a stage-based organizational development model based on a multi-level, ecological approach and Prochaska and DiClemente's theory of behavior change. Although Prochaska and DiClemente's Transtheoretical Model was originally intended to describe stages of individual behavior change, AAPCHO modified the model to describe organizational change as well. Consequently, CARE recognizes that CHCs will be at different stages of initial capacity to implement their BCC program in new communities.

The uniqueness of the CARE program builds on commonalties of program development for different AAPI populations while still promoting necessary cultural tailoring. An underlying assumption of the CARE approach is that the capacity of communities (including the CHCs within them) directly impacts the effectiveness of efforts to move women towards screening and early detection practices. Due to the diverse nature of AAPIs, strengthening capacity within the community itself and identifying areas that require cultural tailoring encourages program flexibility that is vital to developing culturally appropriate and effective BCC programs.

Learning Objectives: After this presentation, participants will be able to: 1. Identify key elements of organizational capacity required to support community-based breast and cervical cancer (BCC) outreach and screening programs. 2. Identify key elements of BCC programs that require cultural tailoring to be effective in six different Asian American and Pacific Islander communities

Keywords: Asian and Pacific Islander Women, Cancer

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
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.

The 128th Annual Meeting of APHA