Asian American Liver Cancer Education Program in Maryland

描述(申请人提供)：在美国130万慢性乙肝病例和死于乙肝病毒(HBV)的死亡病例中，亚裔美国人和太平洋岛民占了一半以上。这种额外的风险可归因于高乙肝感染率(尤其是第一代移民)，以及由于文化、语言和经济障碍而导致的低乙肝筛查和疫苗接种率。由于这些综合风险因素，亚裔美国人经常被诊断为晚期癌症，导致低存活率和高死亡率。 为了应对这种与癌症相关的健康差距，该项目寻求制定和实施教育计划，以促进马里兰州亚裔美国人的乙肝筛查和提高对肝癌预防的认识。具体目标是：1)制定针对目标社区的需求的教育策略，以提高公众对肝癌预防的认识；2)实施以理论为导向、文化相结合的社区癌症干预计划；以及3)评估乙肝和肝癌知识及乙肝筛查行为教育干预的效果。 采用随机对照设计，将从12个社区组织(CBO)招募总共900名18岁及以上的亚裔美国人(越南人、韩国人和中国人各300人)。每个CBO将被随机分配到干预组(n=6)或对照组(n=6)。符合条件的参与者将完成一项调查，而干预组的参与者将参加一项教育计划。将立即发布一份事后调查，以检查干预对获得乙肝病毒筛查意向的影响。参与者将在干预6个月后接受电话采访，以评估实际的筛查做法。对照组在后测结束后接受延迟干预。从这项拟议的肝癌教育计划中获得的见解将对其他高危非英语人群(包括经济上处于不利地位的少数民族)实施癌症干预计划具有价值，并将解决移民人口的健康差距问题。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders account for over half of the 1.3 million chronic Hepatitis B cases and deaths from Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the U.S. This excess risk can be attributed to high rates of HBV infection (particularly among first generation immigrants), in combination with low rates of HBV screening and vaccination due to cultural, linguistic, and financial barriers. Because of these combined risk factors, Asian Americans are often diagnosed with late stage cancer, resulting in low survival rates and high mortality rates. In response to this cancer-related health disparity, this project seeks to develop and implement educational programs to promote HBV screening and increase awareness of liver cancer prevention of Asian Americans in Maryland. The specific aims are to: 1) Develop educational strategies tailored to the needs of target communities to increase public awareness of liver cancer prevention; 2) Implement theory-driven and culturally integrated community-based cancer intervention programs; and 3) Evaluate the effectiveness of the educational intervention on hepatitis B and liver cancer awareness and HBV screening behavior. Using a randomized control design, a total 900 Asian Americans (300 Vietnamese, Koreans, and Chinese each) age 18 and older will be recruited from 12 community-based organizations (CBO). Each CBO will be randomly assigned to either an intervention (n=6) or control group (n=6). Eligible participants will complete a survey and those in the intervention groups will participate in an educational program. An immediate post survey will be issued to examine the effects of the intervention on intention to obtain HBV screening. Participants will be telephone interviewed 6 months after the intervention to assess actual screening practice. Those in the control group will receive a delayed intervention after the posttest. The insights gained from this proposed liver cancer education program will be valuable in implementing cancer intervention programs for other high risk non-English speaking populations, including economically disadvantaged minorities and will address health disparities in immigrant populations.