title: Participation of Asian-American women in cancer treatment research: a pilot study.
abstract: Few Asian-American women participate in cancer treatment trials. In a pilot study to assess barriers to participation, we mailed surveys to 132 oncologists and interviewed 19 Asian-American women with cancer from Northern California. Forty-four oncologists responded. They reported as barriers language problems, lack of culturally relevant cancer information, and complex protocols. Most stated that they informed Asian-American women about treatment trials. Only four women interviewed knew about trials. Other patient-identified barriers were fear of side effects, language problems, competing needs, and fear of experimentation. Family decision making was a barrier for both oncologists and patients. Compared to non-Asian oncologists, more Asian oncologists have referred Asian-American women to industry trials and identified barriers similar to patients' reports. Our findings indicate that Asian-American women need to be informed about cancer treatment trials, linguistic barriers should be addressed, and future research should evaluate cultural barriers such as family decision making.
authors.affiliation: Vietnamese Community Health Promotion Project, Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Box 0320, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA. tung@itsa.ucsf.edu
authors.forename: Tung T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: Carol P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Somkin
authors.forename: Yifei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Lei-Chun
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Fung
authors.forename: Thoa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nguyen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000523:psychology* / Q000592:standards; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000523:psychology*; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology; D010865:Pilot Projects; D035842:Research Subjects / Q000523:psychology*