Congress Abstracts 2004

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DETACHING HER FROM HER SOCIAL ROLES: KOREAN IMMIGRANT WOMEN’S PERCEPTIONS OF BREAST CANCER. Eunice Eunyoung Suh, PhD, RN, and Sarah Kagan, PhD, RN, CS, AOCN^®, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Individual’s perceptions about breast cancer are reported affecting attitudes toward the screening modalities. Given the low rates of breast cancer screening among Korean immigrant women (KIW), understanding their perspectives is imperative to decipher their sociocultural barriers to breast cancer screening. Korean immigrants are among the fastest growing Asian populations in the U.S. Women in this population are not exempted from the threat of breast cancer, which is the most common female cancer in the U.S. To date, perceptions about breast cancer have not been investigated from the perspectives of KIW. Thus, this study was aimed to explore and interpret KIW’s perceptions of breast cancer using a naturalistic inquiry.

Symbolic interactionism, the meta-concept of cultural competence, and Korean womanhood provided theoretical underpinnings of this study.

The grounded theory methodology was used. Twenty KIW were conveniently selected through a community church in an East coastal city. They participated in a set of two consecutive interviews conducted in Korean. The participants consisted of various age groups from 20 to 81, the years of residency in the U.S. from two to 36, and diverse levels of education, marital status, as well as, immigration status.

Constant comparison technique was used in qualitative data analysis. Open-coding, axial coding, and the selective coding were conducted. The trustworthiness of the findings was examined via Lincoln and Guba’s evaluation criteria.

The core concept of breast cancer is “detaching her from her social roles.” The participants perceived breast cancer as both relational and social detachment through an image of cutting off a breast. Predetermination, forbearance of Han (heartburning), and resistance to Sun-Li (universal principles) were identified as the predominant causal factors of breast cancer, which were influenced by Confucian thoughts and traditional Korean health beliefs. The strategies addressed for preventing breast cancer provided a consistent feature with other Asian ways of maintaining health such as, balancing in mind and body, or not talking and thinking about breast cancer. The findings illustrated that KIW’s perceptions of breast cancer are profoundly influenced by their traditional and sociocultural contexts. Researchers and clinicians would benefit from the findings to expand their understandings of KIW and guide KIW to the screening practices.