Abstract

The purpose of this study is to provide an in-depth understanding and facilitators to accessing care among Chinese American women with breast cancer.

Eligible participants were recruited through two methods: (1) direct referrals from community-based organizations, and (2) snowball sampling, in which participants recruited others from their networks.

Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted online with 22 Chinese American women with breast cancer, aged 34-66 years, between December 2025 and March 2026. Data were analyzed using inductive content analysis. Most participants were married and reported no family history of breast cancer. Participants varied in employment and income, with nearly half earning below $55,000 annually. The vast majority did not have regular mammography screening prior to diagnosis.

Participants reported multi-level barriers to breast cancer care, including limited knowledge, treatment side effects, fear, financial burden, and body image concerns. Additional barriers included poor family support, language-related communication challenges, long wait times, insurance difficulties, stigma, and fragmented services. Facilitators included peer support, culturally competent care, and stronger family support. They stressed the urgent need for early detection and awareness.

Findings of this study highlight multiple barriers Chinese American women face in accessing care and underscore the need for improved education, communication, and navigation support in this community. Peer-support interventions were identified as a highly needed and preferred approach in this population.

There is an urgent need to strengthen breast cancer awareness and knowledge of early detection in Chinese American communities. Future intervention studies should consider developing peer-support interventions for this population to address their care access experiences.

Notes

Dr. Jing Liu was awarded a 2025 Sigma Small grant to assist in her pursuit of this research.

Author Details

Lu Hu, PhD, Principal Investigator (serving as Primary Mentor), Assistant Professor, Department of Population Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA

Jing Liu, PhD, Xi Omicron at-Large Chapter, Sub-investigator (grant recipient), Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Population Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA

Sigma Membership

Non-member

Type

Report

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Descriptive/Correlational

Research Approach

Qualitative Research

Keywords:

Access to Care, Health Services Accessibility, Breast Cancer, Chinese American Women, Health Disparities, Health Equity, Early Detection, Early Detection of Cancer, Patient Navigation

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

None: Sigma Grant Recipient Report

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Date of Issue

2026-05-11

Full Text of Presentation

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Funder

Sigma Foundation for Nursing

Download

Available for download on Thursday, November 11, 2027

Click on the above link to access the grant report.

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