Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #107961

Simona C. Kwon, DrPH, MPH, Kellogg Community Health Scholar, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, 624 N. Broadway, Room 337, Baltimore, MD 21205, 410-960-0488, sckwon@jhsph.edu, Victoria Raveis, PhD, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 100 Haven Ave, Suite 6D, New York, NY 10032, Ruby Senie, PhD, AANCART, Columbia University, 722 W. 168th St., 7th Fl., Room 727, Dept. of Epidemiology, New York City, NY 10019, Timothy Peng, PhD, Center for Home Care Policy and Research, Visiting Nurse Service of New York, 5 Penn Plaza, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10001, and Nadia S. Islam, MA, Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research, and Training, Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, 722 W. 168th St., 7th Floor, Rm 732, New York, NY 10032.

Ideas and attitudes about health, illness, and dying are shaped by cultural beliefs and values. Such beliefs are likely to be central to end-of-life care preferences. While the Asian American and Pacific Islander population over 65 years is expected to more than triple in the U.S. from 2000 to 2050, they are among the least likely to enroll in home health care and hospice services. This study is examining the cultural context in which Korean and Chinese immigrant families initiate the decision-making process to enroll a terminally-ill relative into formal home health care. Data is being collected through in-depth semistructured interviews with the caregivers of deceased Chinese and Korean patients who received home health care services from the Visiting Nurse Service of New York. As the target population is the family of elderly immigrants, an understanding of the families' decision-making process needs to explore the influence of traditional culture and values of the home country on this process. Diversity as a result of adaptation to life in the U.S. need also be considered. For Chinese and Korean American families, the shifting gender and familial roles following immigration may further influence the cultural beliefs under which these decisions are made. The presentation will describe this changing cultural framework in which health care decisions are being made and explore how these beliefs and values impact this process.

Learning Objectives:

• understand the decision-making process of Korean and Chinese families to use formal home health care;
• describe the cultural beliefs that influence or hinder the decision-making process; and
• discuss the affect of immigration on these cultural factors.

Keywords: Asian and Pacific Islander, Aging

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation