UIC College of Nursing

Jin Hee Kim, PhD, RN, Funded Projects

GO EARLY: Promoting Mammography Use Among Korean American Women

Funding Source: National Institute of Nursing Research

Dates: 9/26/06 – 7/31/09

Co-Investigators: Usha Menon, Carol Ferrans, Edward Wang

Abstract: Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among Korean-American (KA) women, and they present with larger tumor size and more advanced-stage cancer than Caucasian women. This implies that KA women adhere less to breast cancer screening, which known to promote early detection and reduce mortality. The specific goal related to breast cancer in Healthy People 2010 (HP2010) is that 70% of all women 40 years or older should have had a mammogram within the preceding 2 years: particularly low rates of mammography use among minority subpopulations such as KA women is disconcerting: 50% of KA women never had a mammogram compared to 21% of Caucasians. The specific aim of this proposed pre- and post-test experimental, two-group design study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the culturally competent stage-based, targeted breast cancer screening intervention GO EARLY, specifically designed to increase mammography use among KA immigrant women 40 years or older. The GO EARLY intervention will be a 45-minute, semi-structured, interactive session on breast cancer screening knowledge and beliefs for KA women grouped according to stages of mammography use (i.e. precontemplators, contemplators, and precontemplation or contemplation relapsers) delived in the KA church conference room. Total 214 KA women from 2 KA churches in suburban Chicago (one church as intervention and the other church as control group) will be participated. Participants will be surveyed in person, pre- and post-intervention on breast cancer and screening-related knowledge, beliefs, and stages of mammography use by trained research assistants and community facilitators. Women in the intervention group will answer a pre-intervention survey (Time 1), attend GO EARLY session, and complete post-intervention survey at 8 weeks (Time 2) and 24 weeks (Time 3). The control group women will comple Time 1 and Times 2 and 3 at the same intervals as the intervention group but will not receive GO EARLY. The effectiveness of stage-based intervention on mammography use among Caucasians and African Americans and, it is imperative that we extend such strategies to other groups of women most in need of mammography interventions. The strong theoretical framework for this study adds rigor and structure to the intervention and analysis, as well as makes it replicable in groups of KA women across the U.S.