Abstract A03: Designing culturally appropriate health interventions for Pacific Islanders: The “Support Our Women” Pap test study

Objective: The purpose of this study is to test the efficacy of a social support intervention involving women and their male partners to increase Pap testing behaviors in the Chamorro, Samoan, and Tongan communities of Southern California.

Methods: Study participants were Samoan, Tongan, and Chamorro women, ages 21-65, mainly from Southern California; and their male partners. Health educators from three community based organizations spearheaded an organizational sampling approach to recruit eligible women and their male partners from Samoan and Tongan churches and Chamorro clans. Intervention participants received a two-hour culturally tailored workshop that include the following: group activity, information on Pap testing, video, and corresponding materials. Comparison participants received a brochure about Pap testing. Three waves of data are collected from all participants: pretest (before workshop or brochure), posttest1 (immediately after workshop or brochure), and posttest2 (6 months follow-up). Data collected included demographics, acculturation, cervical cancer and Pap testing knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors; decision making utility (based upon the Multi-Attribute Utility model), and social support (based upon the Medical Outcomes Study - Social Support Survey and Provided Support subscale from Berlin Social Support Scale).

Results: A total of 561 women and 488 men who completed pretest and posttest 1, recruited from 75 different churches and clans. Women who had received a Pap test in the past three years report greater social support from their male partners, compared to women who had not had a Pap test within the past three years. The male partners of women who had a Pap test in the past three years believed that they provided more social support to their partner, compared to the male partners of women who had not had a Pap test within the past three years. There were also nearly significant increases (1.41 points for intervention vs. .87 points for control; p < .07) in all decision making scores from pretest to posttest1. Specifically, two MAU consequences (“feeling embarrassed about Pap tests” and “protecting my family by receiving a Pap test”) showed significant increases (.16 vs. .04, p < .05; and .20 vs. .08, p < .05; respectively).

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the intervention, which facilitated increased social support from women's male partners, resulted in higher Pap testing behaviors among women themselves.

Application: The relationship between social support and Pap testing may be especially relevant for populations beyond Pacific Islanders, since there are many collectivistic cultures that place a greater importance on the well-being of others within their social network compared to themselves.

Citation Format: Sora Park Tanjasiri, Lola Santos, Michele Mouttapa, Jie Weiss, Jasmine DeGuzman Lacsamana, Lou Quitugua, Isileli Vunileva, Elenoa Vaikona, Vanessa Tui'one May, Peter Flores, Perci Flores, Dorothy Vaivao, Marina Tupua, Genesis Lutu. Designing culturally appropriate health interventions for Pacific Islanders: The “Support Our Women” Pap test study. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Seventh AACR Conference on The Science of Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; Nov 9-12, 2014; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2015;24(10 Suppl):Abstract nr A03.