Multilingual Access to Breast Cancer Early Detection
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: Non-technical introduction to the research topics: Public medical facilities are universally challenged today by the critical task of providing equal access to health care for increasing numbers of ethnically diverse women who are not proficient in either English or Spanish, speaking a variety of much less common languages. Many women come from areas where breast cancer is not considered a major health risk and where mammography is not readily available. Studies have shown that once in the United States, women may experience an increased risk of developing breast cancer and need access to regular screening and diagnostic tests for early detection. In order to make California’s “Every Woman Counts” program a reality, medical systems need to make changes that promote equal access to breast health services, regardless of a woman’s language. The question(s) or central hypotheses of the research in non-technical terms: The questions addressed by this proposal are: 1. What are the key linguistic, cultural and institutional barriers to breast cancer screening and diagnostic services among low-income women with limited English proficiency (LEP)? 2. Will an intervention developed to address specific barriers among LEP women be feasible in public healthcare settings? 3. Can we develop a multilingual access program (MAP) comprised of key steps that institutions need to address in order to provide equal language-access to breast health services? The general methodology in non-technical terms: To answer these questions, we will interview LEP women through interpreters in four targeted languages (Cambodian, Cantonese, Mien and Tigrigna) in order to identify barriers that LEP women face if they have a breast problem or want to be screened for breast cancer. We will also interview interpreters and providers in a major inner city public medical center to better understand the system and to identify potential system barriers and their solutions. To further explore issues raised in interviews with LEP women, interpreters and physicians, we will conduct two focus groups: one with nurses and one with clinic staff and bilingual Community Health Outreach Workers. Participants will be recruited via professional and community networks. Using this information, we will develop a unique intervention, which may use interpreters and Community Health Outreach Workers, to promote breast health for women experiencing language barriers. To evaluate the feasibility of the new system, we will invite a number of women from within the medical setting and from the community to try out the new language-access intervention and we will learn from their experiences to make further improvements. Innovative elements of the project in non-technical terms: While many studies have investigated barriers to breast cancer services for specific ethnic and language groups, the problem increasingly encountered by public healthcare facilities is how to simultaneously deliver high quality and cost-effective healthcare to a multilingual, multicultural population. This proposal is innovative in addressing language barriers that affect increasing numbers of low-income, underinsured and uninsured women, including many recent immigrants, who use public hospitals and clinics as their primary source of medical care. Instead of focusing attention on the most commonly encountered languages, we will improve or develop new steps to breast health for women who speak less common languages. The focus on identifying modifiable linguistic, cultural and institutional barriers is also innovative. Community involvement: Women who seek medical care at the Alameda County Medical Center speak more than 26 distinct non-English, non-Spanish languages. Many women can only communicate their medical needs through bilingual friends, relatives and interpreters, and, in recent years, a number of women have made their unmet breast services needs known to the Pathfinders Program staff. Members of the community have been, and will continue to be, actively involved in the planning and implementation of all phases of this project through participation of the Community Advisory Committee that meets regularly with the Community and Scientific Co-Principal Investigators. During this project, we will continue to strengthen our partnership with the community for future collaboration.