KOREAN IMMIGRANT WOMEN'S PERCEPTIONS ON BREAST CANCER SCREENING PRACTICES: A COMPARISON WITH THE HEALTH BELIEF MODEL.

MEDICAL screening; BREAST cancer; CANCER in women; WOMEN immigrants; MEDICAL care

In this multicultural society, deciphering cultural health beliefs of a minority population is the first step to eliminate ethnic health disparity. Although the number of KIW remarkably grows each year and the incidence of breast cancer also increases, no study to date has investigated KIW's in-depth perceptions with regard to breast cancer screenings and has compared their traditional health beliefs with the variables of the HBM. Korean immigrant women (KIW) in the U.S. reported far lower breast cancer screening rates than women in general. Their cultural health beliefs are assumed to play an important role in performing the western screening procedures. This study was aimed to investigate KIW's perceptions towards breast cancer screenings qualitatively and to compare the findings with the variables of the Health Belief Model (HBM). Three theoretical underpinnings of this study include symbolic interactionism, the meta-concept of cultural competence, and a concept of Korean womanhood. Using the Grounded Theory methodology, twenty KIW, age between 20 and 81, were interviewed two times consecutively in Korean language. Data Analysis: The qualitative data was transcribed and analyzed using the constant comparison technique. The first level coding was carried out in Korean in order to preserve any Korean culture-embedded expressions or nuances. English translation occurred from the second level coding constantly comparing the contextual meanings between two languages. The overriding theme was "getting a cancer-free sentence" which indicates that KIW are aware of and have utilized breast cancer screenings but used them only to approve their cancer-free status. The reason why they do not maintain the practices attributes to their traditional Korean health beliefs, which is discord with western logical reasoning regarding breast cancer screening. In addition, KIW's perceptions on clinical breast exam and mammography are culturally embedded, thus, generate KIW's non-adherence to the western procedures. The comparisons of these findings with the variables of HBM were discussed. This study shed lights on future nursing research how to explore minority populations regarding their traditional health beliefs related to western medical practices and to reconstruct the standpoints of western health care providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]