Challenges of Identifying Asian Women for Breast Cancer Screening

Purpose/Objectives: To emphasize the need for multiple data sources to develop a comprehensive list of potential respondents for a study of breast cancer screening behavior among Asian American women.

Design: Descriptive, pilot.

Setting: An urban Michigan county.

Sample: 616 Chinese women age 40 and older.

Methods: Comparison of multiple data sources, including lists from membership directories of local Chinese organizations, a commercial survey company, health promotion events, and brief telephone interviews.

Findings: Of the 616 eligible women, 32% were identified through the membership directories of local Chinese organizations, 28% from a list obtained from the survey company, 22% from telephone directories, 10% from the attendance lists of health promotion events, and 8% from more than one source.

Conclusions: Multiple sources are required to obtain a comprehensive list for specialized populations. Every data source has its advantages and disadvantages. The use of diverse sources helps to offset the limitations of each individual one.

Implications for Nursing: Identifying potential participants from specialized populations represents a major issue for clinicians and researchers in nursing and other health-related disciplines. Strategies exist to facilitate the process.