Abstract
Background
As patients grow older, accurate communication with health care providers about cancer becomes increasingly important. However, little is known about the cancer communication experiences of older Asian immigrants.
Objective
To learn about the cancer-related communication experiences of older Vietnamese immigrants from the insider perspective.
Design
Qualitative study (grounded theory, constant comparative method) using individual interviews with older Vietnamese immigrants with the purpose of discussing how they learn about cancer. Interviews were conducted in Vietnamese.
Participants
Vietnamese immigrants aged 50–70 years, recruited through community-based organizations. Most had low education and limited English proficiency. The sample size of 20 was sufficient to achieve theoretical saturation.
Results
We identified 3 categories of themes concerning informants’ experiences with cancer communication in the health care setting: (1) attitudes about addressing screening with providers, (2) issues/problems communicating with physicians about cancer, and (3) language/translation difficulties. There was substantial overlap between informants who mentioned each theme category, and 40% of the participants mentioned all 3 categories.
Conclusion
Clinicians should be aware of and act upon specific cancer communication needs/challenges of their older immigrant patients. Moreover, health care systems need to be prepared to address the needs of an increasingly multiethnic and linguistically diverse patient population. Finally, community-level interventions should address baseline knowledge deficits while encouraging immigrant patients to engage their doctors in discussions about cancer screening.
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Acknowledgements
The project described was supported in part by Grant Number 5P50CA095856-04 from National Cancer Institute. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NCI. Additional funding was provided by pilot grants from the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics (University of Pennsylvania) and the Center for Asian Health (Dr. Grace X. Ma, Temple University). Dr. Nguyen was supported by a Cancer Control Career Development Award from the American Cancer Society (CCCDA-05-161-01) and a Pfizer Fellowship in Health Literacy/Clear Health Communication. The authors wish to thank the Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Associations Coalition, the Vietnamese United National Association of Greater Philadelphia, the Vietnamese Association for Aging in Philadelphia and Suburbs, and the Vietnamese community of Saint Helena Church for their assistance in participant recruitment. They also wish to thank Chau Nguyen, To Lan Chau, Dr. Huan M. Vu, and Gia An Vu for data collection/data management and Dr. Marjorie Bowman (University of Pennsylvania) for her thoughtful review of prior versions of this paper. Finally, they thank the anonymous reviewers of this journal, whose constructive suggestions helped to shape the final paper.
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Nguyen, G.T., Barg, F.K., Armstrong, K. et al. Cancer and Communication in the Health Care Setting: Experiences of Older Vietnamese Immigrants, A Qualitative Study. J GEN INTERN MED 23, 45–50 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-007-0455-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-007-0455-2