Korean Americans experience many challenges to obtaining adequate health care coverage and access to needed services. Because a large proportion of Korean Americans attend churches on a regular basis, churches may be a promising venue where health programs can be delivered. In order to gain an in-depth understanding of Korean American churches with respect to conducting future health intervention research, we conducted exploratory interviews and focus groups with 58 leaders from 23 Korean American churches and three community organizations. From these interviews and focus groups, we found that Korean churches and church leaders seek to meet a variety of social and health needs of their congregation and their surrounding community. Several leaders have stated that assisting with social and medical needs of their members is an important component of their current ministry. They described profound health needs of their congregations and have suggested various ways in which the university can partner with the local churches to help address these needs through research. Additionally, they described various resources churches can provide to researchers such as: their personal assistance, church volunteer base, church facility, and church network and contacts. Our findings suggest that Korean churches have a high potential to serve an important role in the health of Korean Americans. On the basis of the promising results of the present study, we are planning to conduct a cross sectional survey of Korean church leaders and members in Los Angeles County to substantiate our findings in a larger representative sample.

Lymphomatoid papulosis is often regarded as a low-grade variant of cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL). Given the excellent long-term prognosis, recent consensus guidelines indicate that patients can be monitored off therapy. We report a case of a 67-year-old man who presented with lymphomatoid papulosis, with necrotic papules that have been intermittently present for over forty years.

To test an intervention to increase adherence to diagnostic follow-up tests among Asian American women. Korean American women who were referred for a diagnostic follow-up test (mainly diagnostic mammograms) and who had missed their follow-up appointment were eligible to participate in the study. Women from two clinics (n = 176) were randomly allocated to a usual care control arm or a peer navigator intervention arm. A 20-min telephone survey was administered to women in both study arms six months after they were identified to assess demographic and socio-economic characteristics and the primary outcome, self-reported completion of the recommended follow-up exam. Among women who completed the survey at six-month follow-up, self-reported completion of follow-up procedures was 97% in the intervention arm and 67% in the control arm (p < 0.001). Based on an intent-to-treat analysis of all women who were randomized and an assumption of no completion of follow-up exam for women with missing outcome data, self-reported completion of follow-up was 61% in the intervention arm and 46% in the usual care control arm (p < 0.069). Our results suggest that a peer navigator intervention to assist Korean American women to obtain follow-up diagnostic tests after an abnormal breast cancer screening test is efficacious.

D/deaf cancer patients and survivors, including D/deaf women diagnosed with breast cancer, have been largely overlooked in the research literature. To gain preliminary information we included 29 D/deaf breast cancer survivors in a larger program of community-academic research aimed at evaluating and addressing the breast cancer educational needs of D/deaf women. Seven D/deaf breast cancer survivors completed in-depth signed (American Sign Language) interviews and another 22 survivors completed a written/signed survey. Both studies revealed significant gaps in breast cancer knowledge among these women despite their having multiple contacts with medical providers, communication challenges in clinical settings, and inadequate access to support and advocacy services during diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. Research is needed to develop tailored cancer control programs for this population and to identify strategies for disseminating to health care providers and organizations information about the challenges D/deaf people face in obtaining needed services.