Breast Cancer Screening Barriers Among Southeast Asian Women in a Culturally Tailored Navigation Intervention

Abstract

Southeast Asian cancer screening rates are alarmingly the lowest across all racial and ethnic groups in the United States. This paper examines barriers to breast cancer screening among Southeast Asian women, an understudied and underserved subgroup within the broader Asian American population, participating in a culturally tailored navigation intervention. A total of 194 women were randomly assigned to either the intervention–Tailored Messaging System^© group (n = 103) or the information-reminder only group (n = 91). The intervention group received tailored messages addressing barriers, beliefs, perceived risks, and self-efficacy, along with guidance to complete mammograms, delivered by trained community health advisors over 10 weeks. The information group received screening information by mail. Barriers were evaluated via a questionnaire at baseline in both groups. Results showed statistically significant differences in mammography screening by ethnicity, but not by intervention group. The Lao constituted the largest group, with 20 (37.7%) screened, followed by Cambodians at 7 (26.1%), whereas only 5 (8.5%) of the Vietnamese and none (0.0%) of the Filipina women completed mammograms. Findings indicate that some Southeast Asian women are less likely to get screened for breast cancer due to modifiable factors such as health insurance, doctors’ recommendations, fears, and perceptions. Disaggregating data for Southeast Asian women subgroups is an essential step for uncovering barriers in cancer screening uptake. Public health interventions and campaigns should consider these barriers and the importance of using disaggregated data.