Abstract B07: Asian American women's perspectives toward donating healthy breast tissue: Implications for recruitment methods and messaging

Abstract

As long as they remain in their homelands, Asian women have a lower risk than Caucasians, African Americans, and Latinas of developing breast cancer (BC). Yet once Asians move to the U.S. their risk rates measurably increase. The Susan G. Komen® Tissue Bank at the IU Simon Cancer Center (KTB) is the only biobank of its kind in the world that collects healthy breast tissue from women of all racial groups to use as controls in BC research. The KTB represents a critical tool in efforts to treat and prevent BC; however, Asian American (AA) women display marked reticence towards donating breast tissue to the KTB. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to use the basic components of Grounded Practical Theory to explore potential messaging that may result in AAs9 more positive outlook on breast tissue donation. This study recruited seventeen (N=17) AA women to share their perspectives on donating breast tissue for research purposes. Participants took part in an interactive focus group exploring potential messaging for successfully recruiting AA women to the KTB study. Findings revealed that: a) participants retained a culturally embedded discomfort with donating, and a general distrust that their donation would be handled ethically and appropriately; b) the women possessed an extraordinary need for knowledge about all facets of the donation process; c) participants perceived that they lack a personal connection to BC, making it difficult for them to generate any truly altruistic tendencies to perform the desired behavior, or to understand a need to do so; and d) they possess a strong desire to learn why it seems important to the KTB to collect their tissue, and especially about the increased BC rates and risk for Asians who move to or are born in the U.S. The findings from this study have important implications for others who work in applied clinical settings and are interested in addressing racial disparities in medical research through more effective and targeted recruitment messaging. Citation Format: Katherine E. Ridley-Merriweather. Asian American women9s perspectives toward donating healthy breast tissue: Implications for recruitment methods and messaging [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Tenth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2017 Sep 25-28; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2018;27(7 Suppl):Abstract nr B07.