Breast and cervical cancer screening practices and inventions among Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese Americans.
OBJECTIVE
To review research on breast and cervical cancer screening practices among Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese Americans.


METHODS
MEDLINE and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature databases.


RESULTS
Of the 28 studies reviewed, 19 (68%) were descriptive and 9 (32%) were interventions. Instruments were developed or translated into the native language. Inconsistent operational definitions for positive facilitators and negative barriers made comparisons across studies difficult.


CONCLUSIONS
Research about breast and cervical cancer screening is limited in these groups. All of the studies reviewed indicated low adherence to cancer screening guidelines. Some interventions showed promising results. Poor awareness about cancer was reported; positive facilitators and negative barriers were identified.


CONCLUSIONS
The rapidly increasing number of Asian Americans in the United States underscores the need for further research in this area. Future studies should focus on each population as a disaggregated subgroup. Cancer control interventions should be culturally competent.
Lee-Lin
Frances
F
School of Nursing, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, USA. leelinf@ohsu.edu
Menon
Usha
U
D000328:Adult; D001213:Asian / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology*; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000208:ethnology; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000208:ethnology; D015995:Prevalence; D036301:Qualitative Research; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology*; D014744:Vietnam / Q000208:ethnology