Beliefs and Risks of Breast Cancer Among African Immigrants
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: Although there are increasing concerns about addressing the cancer detection needs of ethnic minority groups in California, there are still significant gaps in our knowledge, especially about underserved ethnic populations. This is particularly true of African immigrant women. There are an estimated 603,705 African immigrants in the U.S., of which 244,204 are females, and the majority of whom live in the state of California. The major concern of health professionals is the disparity in breast cancer survival rates among women from minority and low-income populations. The changing demographics across the United States will continue to challenge health care providers to offer relevant and sensitive health care services to members of a variety of diverse groups. Failure to recognize and respond to these differences in beliefs and cultural meanings may create service gaps for significant segments of the population. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Studies show that women diagnosed with breast cancer in African countries seem to be a decade younger than their counterparts in the West, and the disease is most often advanced to stage III or IV at the time of diagnosis. These groups of immigrant women are the most challenging in that they come from societies where a routine checkup is unknown and medical care is the option of last resort. Failure to address what may be unique and a high risk predisposition to advanced breast cancer at diagnosis for this community is a serious oversight in breast cancer early detection in California. Clearly, then, these women are under-served and an urgent need exists to document African immigrants' health beliefs and understanding of breast cancer, and to devise culturally appropriate early detection, and treatment plans. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 This anthropological study will explore differences in perceived risk of breast cancer and related cultural factors in a sample of African immigrant women. The overall aims of this anthropological research are to examine: 1) the cultural understanding of risk and the etiology of breast cancer among African immigrant women; 2) knowledge of breast cancer symptoms and screening guidelines; 3) cultural beliefs and attitudes of African immigrant women of body parts such as the breasts and their views on loss of body parts; and 4) using cultural consensus analysis, explore how strongly African immigrants agree or disagree among themselves as well as with other immigrants and underserved groups in California, in their beliefs about breast cancer risk, etiology, knowledge of symptom presentation, and screening guidelines.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The study design will involve focus group interviews with 20 key informants and an in-depth interview with 100 African immigrant women. The major analysis will be qualitative. In so doing, we will identify those culturally specific factors that influence understanding of breast cancer symptom presentation, and barriers to early detection in order to develop a model that will be generalizable to the larger population of African immigrant women in California. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 From such a model we can make specific recommendations about what would and what would not be an appropriate mechanism to employ when interacting with African immigrant women about breast cancer risks, and early detection. This will be vital for primary care providers serving these communities, as well as any project development for early detection and treatment services. Finally, the findings from this research will provide vital information specific to the group, and empower these immigrant women to develop culturally appropriate guidelines for community education.