Abstract IA25: Impact of a biospecimen collection seminar on willingness to donate biospecimens among Chinese Americans: Results from a randomized, controlled community-based trial
Authors: Tong Elisa K. , Fung Lei-Chun , Stewart Susan L. , Paterniti Debora A. , Dang Julie H.T. , Chen Moon S. 
Published: October 2015

Background: Biospecimen collection from diverse populations can advance cancer disparities research, but are currently underrepresented. Little is known about the baseline knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to biospecimen collection among most racial/ethnic minority populations. Furthermore, appropriate messages that might increase biospecimen donations have yet to be explored and developed. Among Asian Americans, Chinese Americans are the largest subgroup, of which Cantonese-speaking men may have a higher cancer risk because they have the highest smoking prevalence rate (21.7%) among Californian Chinese, compared to 7.2% for English-speaking and 14.1% for Mandarin-speaking men; this rate is higher than the general California population whose rate is 15.2%. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of an educational seminar on an Asian American community's willingness to donate biospecimens in a randomized, controlled trial.

Methods: We partnered with a community-based clinic, Chinatown Public Health Center (CPHC) in San Francisco, serving Cantonese-speaking Chinese Americans to develop and revise an educational seminar on biospecimen collection. As a community-based participatory research project, the CPHC health education team was a key partner in all aspects of this study including design, recruitment, conduct, data collection, and analysis. Over 700 Chinese Americans from the general community contacted CPHC about the study from a bilingual flyer distributed at CPHC health education outreach events. From the large community response, 511 Chinese American adults were screened, 400 were randomized, and 395 were available for analysis. In the trial, the intervention seminar was compared with a control seminar (cancer prevention) on change in willingness to donate biospecimens.

Results: At baseline, many were willing to donate a biospecimen (saliva, urine, hair, toenails, blood, unused cancerous tissue) whether healthy or hypothetically had cancer. Also, many would donate because future generations would benefit, and few had concerns about donation. In logistic regression analyses, there was an intervention effect for willingness to donate: urine if had cancer (OR=2.2, 95% CI: 1.3-3.7), toenails if healthy (OR=2.1, 95% CI: 1.4-3.2) or had cancer (OR=2.3, 95% CI: 2.0-2.7), hair if healthy (OR=1.8, 95% CI: 1.3-2.5) or had cancer (OR=2.8, 95% CI: 1.9-4.0), and unused cancerous tissue (OR=1.8, 95% CI:1.2-2.9). There was also an intervention effect for donating because future generations would benefit (OR=2.0, 95% CI: 1.4-3.0), and this attitude was a strong independent predictor for willingness to donate all biospecimens, whether healthy or had cancer (OR=2.9-4.2).

Conclusion: Cantonese-speaking Chinese American participants of an educational seminar on biospecimen collection showed greater increases in willingness to donate biospecimens and donating for the benefit of future generations, than participants who attended a control seminar.

Impact: Donating for the benefit of future generations is a theme that should be incorporated in messages that encourage biospecimen donation for Chinese Americans.

Citation Format: Elisa K. Tong, Lei-Chun Fung, Susan L. Stewart, Debora A. Paterniti, Julie H.T. Dang, Moon S. Chen, Jr.. Impact of a biospecimen collection seminar on willingness to donate biospecimens among Chinese Americans: Results from a randomized, controlled community-based trial. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Seventh AACR Conference on The Science of Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; Nov 9-12, 2014; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2015;24(10 Suppl):Abstract nr IA25.