Due to the influx of Asian immigrants with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, cancer service gaps are widening. The proposed project will develop comprehensive and culturally competent cancer prevention and support program within the Chinese American community in Texas’s Houston and Austin areas. Compared to their counterparts, Asian Americans (AA) bear a greater cancer burden. Cancer is the leading cause of all deaths among AA populations in the United States and Texas. The proposed project will first expand existing cancer prevention and support program in the Houston Chinese community. The specific components and implementation of the program will be based on Chinese culture...
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Due to the influx of Asian immigrants with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, cancer service gaps are widening. The proposed project will develop comprehensive and culturally competent cancer prevention and support program within the Chinese American community in Texas’s Houston and Austin areas. Compared to their counterparts, Asian Americans (AA) bear a greater cancer burden. Cancer is the leading cause of all deaths among AA populations in the United States and Texas. The proposed project will first expand existing cancer prevention and support program in the Houston Chinese community. The specific components and implementation of the program will be based on Chinese culture and traditions with volunteers recruited from the community. The program consists of three major components: prevention and education, screening and early detection, and survivorship services. The cancer education and outreach and screening and early detection components will address the four most common and deadly cancer in the Chinese community: breast, lung, colon, and liver. Empirical evidence shows that mortality of these cancers can be prevented or reduced through early detection screenings or behavioral modifications such as engaging in healthy lifestyle activities. In addition to using traditional methods of education and outreach mechanisms, the proposed project will adopt four new innovative approaches to not only reach out to and penetrate more of the target population but also effect behavioral modifications among the population. These approaches are: 30-minute weekly educational programs via a local TV station, establishing a community garden that promotes healthy eating and makes organic foods accessible to low-income populations, developing smoking cessation classes based on Chinese culture and traditions, and providing one-on-one consultations pertaining to cancer risk and nutrition information to the public and newly diagnosed cancer patients. The survivorship program will provide group-based interventions such as support group meetings, survivorship camps, and one-on-one support including psychosocial support, patient navigation services, transportation and language assistance services, as well as dietitian consultations for all types of cancer patients. These comprehensive programs will first be implemented in Houston and gradually replicated in the Austin Chinese community, except for the TV program. Currently, the Austin Chinese community lacks such a comprehensive and culturally-competent cancer prevention and support program. By the end of the third year, based on the evaluation data, lessons learned from both sites will be documented, and a handbook detailing the steps to establish a comprehensive and culturally-competent cancer prevention and support program will be published. The handbook will be distributed to other communities with similar needs; consequently, cancer incidence and mortality rates can be decreased.
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