Abstract
Background: Asian Americans are at high risk of contracting the hepatitis B virus (HBV). Culturally integrated liver cancer educational program has increased HBV knowledge which leads to HBV screening, vaccinations, and treatment, which reduce cancer health disparities from HBV infection. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of culturally integrated education program on HBV knowledge as opposed to a stand-alone video education program.
Methods: Asian American adults were recruited from community-based organizations (Study 1) and from Pan Asian Volunteer Health Clinic (Study 2) in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan area. 441 participants in Study 1 received the 30-minute intervention program including power point presentation with Q & A, role play video, and distribution of photonovel. In Study 2, 276 participants watched the 10-minute video presentation without any interaction with the staff. Both intervention programs focus on general knowledge of the HBV, the importance of vaccinations, and follow-up for those infected. All participants completed baseline survey after signing the informed consent. Then they received two different education programs either a culturally integrated program or a video presentation. After the education program, they completed a post-education survey. The outcome measures were correct answers to knowledge questions related to HBV infection, including the modes of HBV transmission (10 questions) and sequelae of chronic HBV (7 questions). Paired sample t-test was used.
Results: The culturally integrated education program was more effective than the video education. It increased their knowledge of HBV infection appreciably (4.18 vs 1.31 for mode of transmission, p<.001; 2.06 vs. 0.69 for sequelae, p<.001). In the pretest, less than one fourth of the participants had the correct answer to two questions: (1) eating food that had been pre-chewed by an infected person; and (2) breast feeding from an infected mother. Only one third knew that HBV is significantly more contagious than HIV/AIDS.
Conclusion: This study suggests that it is very critical to implement the culturally integrated education program to reduce liver cancer health disparities among Asian Americans.
Citation Format: Hee-Soon Juon, Frederic Kim, Patrick Lam. Revisiting the importance of a culturally integrated liver cancer education program among Asian Americans. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eighth AACR Conference on The Science of Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; Nov 13-16, 2015; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2016;25(3 Suppl):Abstract nr A53.
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