title: Essential Qualitative Inquiry in the Development of a Cancer Literacy Measure for Immigrant Women.
abstract: In this article, we describe the development of a comprehensive measure of breast and cervical cancer literacy for immigrant populations. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to use a health literacy framework in this endeavor. Using qualitative strategies, we (a) developed an understanding of the experiences of Mexican and Filipina immigrant women with low health literacy through individual interviews, (b) conducted focus groups to obtain feedback from experts and participants to determine the adequacy of items included in the measure, and (c) refined the set of items to create an empirically based measure. The final measure included 129 items that assess beliefs, attitudes, knowledge, emotions, and contextual factors related to breast and cervical cancer. Processes for adapting the measure for use with other immigrant groups are discussed.
authors.affiliation: University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, USA l.buki@miami.edu.
authors.forename: Lydia P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Buki
authors.affiliation: University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.
authors.forename: Barbara W K
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Yee
authors.affiliation: University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, USA.
authors.forename: Kari A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Weiterschan
authors.affiliation: University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, USA.
authors.forename: Emaan N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Lehardy
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044466:Asian People; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology*; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000193:education*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D057220:Health Literacy; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D010679:Philippines / Q000208:ethnology; D036301:Qualitative Research; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology*
keywords: Filipino Americans; Mexican Americans; breast cancer; focus groups; health determinants; health disparities; individual interviews