Increasing stroke knowledge in Korean seniors: A community-partnered, culturally tailored education intervention

Background

Stroke is the third leading cause of death in Asian-Americans. Few studies have explored how language barriers and cultural perceptions may affect stroke knowledge in Korean seniors.

Methods

A Community Advisory Panel (CAP) of seven bilingual Korean-American community leaders guided the project, approving translations and interpreting results. Korean seniors (n=162) were surveyed to assess current knowledge; we conducted three focus groups (n=29) to explore health perceptions and inform intervention design. We developed a culturally-tailored stroke education intervention (emphasizing risk factors, symptoms, response, treatment, treatment time window) that was administered to 257 Korean seniors at 6 community sites (adult day healthcare centers, public housing facilities, church, senior center). We conducted pre-, immediate post-, and 3-month post-intervention surveys to assess knowledge acquisition and retention.

Results

The CAP was instrumental in project oversight and ensuring cultural fidelity. Surveys revealed Korean seniors lacked stroke knowledge. Most were uncomfortable speaking English; traditional Korean remedies (blood-letting, herbs) were not uncommon practice. Cultural perceptions of stroke included “destiny” and “fate.” Participants preferred Korean physicians to give informative messages within positive contexts. Stroke knowledge increased from pre- to immediate post-intervention in all 5 areas; knowledge was sustained at 3 months for 2 of 5 areas.

Conclusions

This culturally-tailored health intervention for Korean seniors represents an initial step in understanding how to raise stroke knowledge in this community. Future interventions in the Korean population would likely benefit from elements of community partnership. This presentation is part of the symposium Research on Minority Aging from the RCMAR Network (#323590).