199240 Impact of culturally tailored printed materials and telephone counseling on knowledge of and attitudes toward cancer screening in Chinese-American women

Monday, November 9, 2009

Wenchi Liang, PhD , Cancer Control Program, Georgetown University, Washington, DC
Junfeng Sun, PhD , Cancer Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC
Cheng-Shuang Ji, PhD , Cancer Control Program, Georgetown University, Washington, DC
Mei-Yuh Chen, MS , Cancer Control Program, Georgetown University, Washington, DC
Background: Breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening rates among Chinese-American women were low compared to whites. Culturally appropriate education is likely to improve screening rates through the improvement of knowledge and attitudes.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a community-based culturally tailored intervention in improving Chinese-American women's cancer screening knowledge and attitudes.

Methods: A total of 507 Chinese-American women aged 50 and older were assigned to receiving standard printed fact sheets (group A), culturally tailored brochures (group B), and brochures plus telephone counseling (group C). Knowledge of the risk factors for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers and respective screening guidelines and attitudes toward cancer screening were assessed at baseline and 2-4 weeks post-intervention. Improvements of knowledge and attitudes over time were analyzed using linear mixed models and logistic regression with GEE for binary outcomes.

Results: Cancer screening attitudes significantly improved in all groups, with the largest effect seen in group C and smallest in group A. However, the difference between groups was not statistically significant. Women in group C showed significant gain in knowledge of risk factors for all three cancers, with the gain significantly larger than group A for cervical (p=0.002) and colorectal cancers (p=0.03). The improvement of knowledge of guidelines for group C was significantly larger than group A (p=0.04) and group B (p=0.01) for cervical cancer, and larger than group B (p=0.01) for colorectal cancer.

Conclusion: Culturally tailored printed materials and interpersonal counseling were effective in improving attitudes and knowledge of cancer and cancer screening.

Learning Objectives:
1) Identify interventions integrating cultural perspectives to educate Chinese American women about the need for regular cancer screening. 2) Evaluate the effectiveness of culturally appropriate interventions in improving knowledge and attitudes toward cancer screening, the intermediate measure of behavior change.

Keywords: Cancer Screening, Interventions

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: this is the report of the study in which I served as the principal investigator. I initiated the idea of the abstract, directed the analysis, intepreted the data, and wrote the abstract.
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.

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