Acculturation and comprehension of cancer information by older immigrant women to Canada

Objective

Colon cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death among older Canadians, can be treated successfully if detected early. English-as-a-second-language (ESL) immigrants have lower cancer screening rates which may be related to acculturation and language barriers. We hypothesized that ESL immigrants would have better comprehension of cancer prevention information with increasing levels of acculturation.

Method

ESL (Spanish-speaking) immigrant women [n=78, mean=53±0.8 (SE) years] in Ontario, Canada completed two measures of comprehension: the S-TOFHLA and a Cloze procedure. The Cloze procedure was applied to a one-page colon cancer pamphlet. Acculturation was assessed using the Bidimensional Acculturation Scale (BAS) and immigration year. Multiple linear regression was used to determine the relationship between comprehension and the independent variables of BAS, immigration year, education, employment, age, hours of English television exposure, and Internet use.

Results

Twenty-three percent of the variation in Cloze was explained by BAS, television use and education [F (3, 69) = 6.763, p = .000] whereas 42% of the variation in S-TOFHLA was explained by BAS, age, television and Internet use [F (4, 68) = 12.134, p = .000]. Increasing acculturation and fewer hours of television predicted comprehension on both measures. Year of immigration and employment were not significantly related to comprehension.

Implications for Practice

In addition to age, a known predictor of comprehension, lower acculturation to an English language environment may compromise older ESL immigrant women's ability to understand cancer prevention information. Multilingual, culturally and age appropriate cancer resources are recommended for ESL seniors. (Supported by SSHRC Canada)