title: A qualitative assessment of community-based breast health navigation services for Southeast Asian women in Southern California: recommendations for developing a navigator training curriculum.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We identified key elements required for a training curriculum for Southeast Asian community-based health navigators (CBHNs), who help low-income, immigrant Cambodian, Laotian, Thai, and Vietnamese women negotiate cultural and systemic barriers to breast cancer screening and care in the United States.
  
  
  METHODS
  We gathered the perspectives of 3 groups: CBHNs, community members, and their providers. We conducted 16 focus groups with 110 women representing different stages of the cancer care continuum and in-depth interviews with 15 providers and 10 navigators to identify the essential roles, skills, and interpersonal qualities that characterize successful CBHNs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The most important areas identified for training CBHNs were information (e.g., knowing pertinent medical information and how to navigate resources), logistics (transportation, interpretation), and affective interpersonal skills (understanding the language and cultural beliefs of patients, communicating with providers, establishing trust).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CBHNs serve a crucial role in building trust and making screening practices culturally meaningful, accessible, usable, and acceptable. Future research should focus on developing training curricula, policies, resources, and funding to better maximize the expertise and services that CBHNs provide and to expand our findings to other underserved communities.
authors.affiliation: Asian American Studies Program, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, California State University, Fullerton, CA 92834-6868, USA. tunnguyen@fullerton.edu
authors.forename: Tu-Uyen N
authors.initials: TU
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: Jacqueline H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Tran
authors.forename: Marjorie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kagawa-Singer
authors.forename: Mary Anne
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Foo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001210:Asia, Southeastern / Q000208:ethnology; D001213:Asian; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002140:California; D003150:Community Health Workers / Q000193:education*; D003256:Community Participation; D003479:Curriculum; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D020380:Needs Assessment; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000208:ethnology*; D012944:Social Support; D000078329:Workforce