title: Community health navigators for breast- and cervical-cancer screening among Cambodian and Laotian women: intervention strategies and relationship-building processes.
abstract: In recent years, there has been a growing number of programs employing health navigators to assist underserved individuals in overcoming barriers to obtaining regular and quality health care. This article describes the perspectives and experiences of community-based health navigators in the Cambodian and Laotian communities involved in a REACH 2010 project to reduce health disparities in breast and cervical cancer among Pacific Islander and Southeast Asian communities in California. These community health navigators, who have extensive training and knowledge about the cultural, historical, and structural needs and resources of their communities, are well equipped to build trusting relationships with community members traditionally ignored by the mainstream medical system. By comparing the different social support roles and intervention strategies employed by community health navigators in diverse communities, we can better understand how these valuable change agents of the health workforce are effective in improving health access and healthy behaviors for underserved communities.
authors.affiliation: Asian American Studies, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, California State University, Fullerton, USA.
authors.forename: Tu-Uyen
authors.initials: TU
authors.lastname: Ngoc Nguyen
authors.forename: Sora Park
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Tanjasiri
authors.forename: Marjorie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kagawa-Singer
authors.forename: Jacqueline H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Tran
authors.forename: Mary Anne
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Foo
mesh_terms: D001213:Asian / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology*; D002140:California; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019058:Community Networks; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D015141:Los Angeles; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D044468:Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000208:ethnology*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D036301:Qualitative Research; D035502:Trust; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology*