Abstract B029: Chinese American Pain Experience (CAPE) project: A mixed-methods study to understand cancer-related pain management in Chinese American patients in New York City
Authors: Kwon Simona , Wong Jazmine , Rosenberg Andrew , Kelly Joan , Tong Virginia , Chong Daniel , Cuff Germaine , Chen Qian , Trinh-Shevrin Chau 
Published: August 2020

Background: Chinese Americans make up the largest subgroup of the Asian American population in the US and are the largest Asian subset in New York City, where the population of Chinese Americans is 547,886; 72% are foreign-born, 34% lack a high school diploma, 61% have limited English proficiency (LEP), and 21% are living in poverty. Cancer is the leading cause of date among Chinese New Yorkers who suffer a disproportionately high burden for specific cancers, including nasopharyngeal, liver, and stomach cancer. Despite this cancer burden, Chinese Americans are at high risk for poorly controlled and managed pain in clinic and hospital settings and under-represented in pain related research. The goal of the CAPE project is to understand the concepts of pain and pain experience and identify potential facilitators and barriers to pain treatment and satisfaction among limited-English-proficient Chinese American inpatients treated at a New York City-based hospital.

Methods: Kleinman's Patient's Explanatory Model of Illness and principles of social marketing served as guiding frameworks. In addition, a scoping review was conducted of electronic databases including PubMed, Google Scholar, and the gray literature on the pain management literature for Chinese American patients to further inform the interview topic guide and survey instrument. Key search terms included combinations of “Asian American,” “Chinese,” “Chinese American,” “cancer,” “pain,” “pain management,” and “pain experience.” Chinese American patients who requested services in Chinese language (e.g., Cantonese, Mandarin) will participate in a one-time qualitative interview and survey data collection. A sample of 25 participants will be recruited or until data saturation is achieved. All data collection will be conducted in the patients' preferred language. Analysis of the qualitative data will utilize the techniques of narrative analysis and constant comparison analytic approach.

Results: The scoping review identified significant gaps in the extant literature. Findings highlighted the lack of intervention or clinical trial studies to address pain and cancer-related pain management for Chinese American patients despite data confirming high rates of dissatisfaction with pain management in clinic and hospital settings. Qualitative data will be assessed to identify themes related to factors to inform the development of strategies and programs on optimal and cultural relevant pain management.

Conclusions: To improve quality of cancer care for Chinese American patients, study findings will inform the cultural adaption of hospital-based pain management programs and services and practice recommendations to facilitate culturally relevant pain treatment for this vulnerable patient population.

Citation Format: Simona Kwon, Jazmine Wong, Andrew Rosenberg, Joan Kelly, Virginia Tong, Daniel Chong, Germaine Cuff, Qian Chen, Chau Trinh-Shevrin. Chinese American Pain Experience (CAPE) project: A mixed-methods study to understand cancer-related pain management in Chinese American patients in New York City [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eleventh AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2018 Nov 2-5; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(6 Suppl):Abstract nr B029.