Abstract D015: A Hispanic community’s evaluation of the culturally adapted Conexiones program: An inductive analysis of focus groups
Authors: Garcia Isela , Reyes Clara , Palacios Rebecca 
Published: September 2020

Purpose: This study examined the priority population’s evaluation of the Conexiones program’s cognitive and cultural appropriateness for use with Hispanic mothers. Introduction: When programs lack cultural relevance, there is a lost opportunity to engage ethnic minorities in services that can help combat health disparities. Priority populations should be included in cultural adaptation processes to address cultural mismatches between program validation groups (e.g. Non-Hispanic White) and new consumer groups (e.g. Hispanics). No education programs are designed to help Hispanic mothers diagnosed with cancer manage the impact of their diagnosis on their school-aged children. An evidence-based cancer-parenting program was culturally-adapted to create the Conexiones program for cancer-diagnosed Hispanic mothers. In this study, Hispanic mothers evaluated the adapted Conexiones program for cognitive and cultural appropriateness. Methods: A series of questions guided focus groups of Hispanic mothers in assessing cognitive (e.g., wording, sequencing) and cultural components of the Conexiones materials. Focus groups were audiorecorded and transcribed. Transcriptions were analyzed using inductive content analysis. Trustworthiness was protected by coding to consensus, systematic peer debriefing, and maintenance of an audit trail. Results: Participants described four domains for improving the Conexiones educational materials: Softening the Language, Incorrect Translation, Finding the Right Words, and Not Making Assumptions. Softening the Language captured the participant’s desire for greater empathy and a warmer and more conversational tone in the patient educator script. Incorrect Translation identified literal translation from English to Spanish that failed to capture the intended meaning of the program text. Poor grammar, lack of context, and misinterpretation also resulted in comprehension problems. Finding the Right Words consisted of suggestions participants made to replace words or reorder phrases to make the text consistent, less repetitive, and reflect language used in the border region. Not Making Assumptions included participants’ warning against making presumptions about the priority population (e.g. that patients will have social support from other adults). In addition to these recommendations, participants highlighted cultural and regional considerations for the program and shared positive feedback on the program content. Conclusion: The priority population’s evaluation of Conexiones after its initial adaptation helped to further refine the program and ensure it fit the needs and beliefs of the new consumer group, Hispanics. Such efforts are important to making evidence-based programs culturally acceptable and appealing to Hispanics. Inclusion of priority populations in the adaptation process ultimately helps develop an optimal program that can be more engaging and beneficial.

Citation Format: Isela Garcia, Clara Reyes, Rebecca Palacios. A Hispanic community’s evaluation of the culturally adapted Conexiones program: An inductive analysis of focus groups [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2019 Sep 20-23; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(6 Suppl_2):Abstract nr D015.