Top

Published in:

Open Access 01-02-2011 | Original Paper

Chumnguh Thleum: Understanding Liver Illness and Hepatitis B Among Cambodian Immigrants

Authors: Nancy J. Burke, Hoai Huyen Do, Jocelyn Talbot, Channdara Sos, Danika Svy, Victoria M. Taylor

Published in: Journal of Community Health | Issue 1/2011

Abstract

Cambodian immigrants are over 25 times more likely to have evidence of chronic hepatitis B infection than the general US population. Carriers of HBV are over 100 times more likely to develop liver cancer than non-carriers. Liver cancer incidence is the second leading cancer for Cambodian men and the sixth for Cambodian women. Despite this, this underserved population has received very little attention from health disparities researchers. Culturally and linguistically appropriate interventions are necessary to increase hepatitis B knowledge, serologic testing, and vaccination among Cambodian Americans. Eight group interviews were held with Cambodian American men (48) and women (49). Focus group discussion revealed unanticipated information about sociocultural influences on participants’ understanding about hepatitis B transmission, disease course, and prevention and treatment informed by humoral theories underlying Khmer medicine, by biomedicine, and by migration experiences. Our findings reveal the value of qualitative exploration to providing cultural context to biomedical information—a formula for effective health promotion and practice.

Abraido-Lanza, A. F., Armbrister, A., Florez, K. R., & Agirre, A. (2006). Toward a theory-driven model of acculturation in public health research. American Journal of Public Health, 96, 1342–1346.CrossRefPubMed

Amaro, H., & de la Torre, A. (2003). Public health needs and scientific opportunities in research on Latinas. American Journal of Public Health, 92, 525–529.CrossRef

Becker, G. (2002). Dying away from home: Quandaries of migration for elders in two ethnic groups. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 57(2), S79–S95.

Bernard, H. R., & Ryan, G. W. (2009). Analyzing qualitative data. Walnut Creek, CA: Sage Publications.

Burke, N. J., Jackson, C. J., Chan, H. C., Stackhouse, F., Nguyen, T., Chen, A., et al. (2004). “Honoring tradition, accepting new ways”: Development of a hepatitis B control intervention for Vietnamese immigrants. Ethnicity and Health, 9(2), 153–169.CrossRefPubMed

Burke, N. J., Joseph, G., Pasick, R. J., & Barker, J. C. (2009). Theorizing social context: Re-thinking behavioral theory. Health Education and Behavior, 36(Suppl. 1), 55S–70S.CrossRefPubMed

Chandler, D. (1991). The tragedy of Cambodian history: Politics, war, and revolution since 1945. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Chandler, D. (Ed.). (2000). A history of Cambodia (3rd ed.). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Chiehwen, E. H., Chih-Hung, L., Hee-Soon, J., Yu-Wen, C., Bawa, J., Tillman, U., et al. (2007). Reducing liver cancer disparities: A community-based hepatitis B prevention program for Asian-American communities. Journal of the National Medical Association, 99(8), 900–907.

10.

Colvin, H. M., & Mitchell, A. E. (Eds). (2009). Hepatitis and liver cancer: A national strategy for prevention and control for hepatitis B and C. Committee on the prevention and control of viral hepatitis infections: Institute of Medicine, http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12793.html.

11.

Ghosh, C. (2003). Healthy people 2010 and Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders: Defining a baseline of information. American Journal of Public Health, 93, 2093–2098.CrossRefPubMed

12.

Green, L. W., George, M. A., Daniel, M., Frankis, C. J., Herbert, C. P., Bowie, W. R., et al. (2003). Guidelines for participatory research in health promotion. In M. Minkler & N. Wallerstein (Eds.), Community-based participatory research for health. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

13.

Grigg-Saito, D., Och, S., Liang, S., Toof, R., & Silka, L. (2008). Building on the strengths of a Cambodian refugee community through community-based outreach. Health Promotion Practice, 9(4), 415–425.CrossRefPubMed

14.

Grytdal, S. P., Liao, Y., Chen, R., Garvin, C. C., Grigg-Saito, D., Kagawa-Singer, M., et al. (2009). Hepatitis B testing and vaccination among Vietnamese- and Cambodian-Americans. Journal of Community Health, 34(3), 173–180.CrossRefPubMed

15.

Hopkins, M. C. (1996). Braving a new world: Cambodian (Khmer) refugees in an American city. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey.

16.

Institute of Medicine. (2001). Unequal treatment: Confronting racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare, Vol. 564, p. 566.

17.

Institute of Medicine. (2002). Committee on communication for behavior change in the 21st century: Improving the health of diverse populations. In Speaking of health: Assessing health communication strategies for diverse populations. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

18.

Israel, B. A., Schulz, A. J., Parker, E. A., Becker, A. B., Allen, A. J., & Guzman, J. R. (2003). Critical issues in developing and following community based participatory research principals. In M. Minkler & N. Wallerstein (Eds.), Community-based participatory research for health. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

19.

Israel, B. A., Schulz, A. J., Parker, E. A., & Becker, A. B. (1998). Review of community-based research: Assessing partnership approaches to improve public health. Annual Review of Public Health, 19, 173–202.CrossRefPubMed

20.

Johannessen, H., & Lazar, I. (Eds.). (2006). Multiple medical realities: Patients and healers in biomedical, alternative and traditional medicine. New York: Berghahn Books.

21.

Joseph, G., Burke, N. J., Tuason, N., & Pasick, R. (2009). Perceived susceptibility and perceived benefits in the context of transculturation and transmigration. Health Education and Behavior, 36(Suppl. 1), 71S–90S.CrossRefPubMed

22.

Kagawa-Singer, M. (1998). Cancer and Asian American cultures. Asian American Pacific Islander. Journal of Health, 6(2), 383–399.

23.

Kem, R., & Chu, K. C. (2007). Cambodian cancer incidence rates in California and Washington, 1998–2002. American Cancer Society. doi:10.1002/cncr.22914. www.interscience.wiley.com.

24.

Kiernan, B. (1996). The Pol Pot regime: Race, power, and genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975–1979. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

25.

Kiernan, B. (September 2004). Coming to terms with the past in Cambodia. History Today, 16–18.

26.

Lewis, D. C. (2007). A hierarchy of medicine: Health strategies of elder Khmer refugees in the United States. The Qualitative Report, 12(2), 146–165. Retrieved [2010], from http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR12-2/lewis.pdf.

27.

Lovell, M. L., Tran, T., & Nguyen, C. D. (1987). Refugee women: Lives in transition. International Social Work, 30, 317–325.CrossRef

28.

Mahloch, J., Jackson, J. C., Chitanorong, K., Sam, R., Ngo, L. S., & Taylor, V. M. (1999). Bridging culture through the development of a Cambodian cervical cancer screening video. Journal of Cancer Education, 14, 114.

29.

Marin, G., Burhansstipanov, L., Connell, C., Gielen, A., Helitzer-Allen, D., Lorig, K., et al. (1995). A research agenda for health education among underserved populations. Health Education Quarterly, 22(3), 346–363.PubMed

30.

Mortland, C. A. (1994). Khmer Buddhists in the United States: Ultimate questions. In M. M. Ebihara, C. A. Mortland, & J. Ledgerwood (Eds.), Cambodian culture since 1975: Homeland and exile (pp. 72–90). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

31.

Muecke, M. A. (1983). Caring for Southeast Asian refugee patients in the USA. American Journal of Public Health, 73, 431.CrossRefPubMed

32.

Muecke, M. A. (1983). In search of Healers-Southeast Asian Refugees in the American healthcare system. In Cross-cultural medicine. West J Med, Vol. 139, pp. 835–840.

33.

Muecke, M. A. (1995). Trust, abuse of trust, and mistrust among Cambodian refugee women: A cultural interpretation. In E. V. Daniel & J. C. Knudsen (Eds.), Mistrusting refugees (pp. 36–55). Berkeley: University of California Press.

34.

Niedzwiecki, M., & Tuang, T. C. (2004). Southeast Asian American statistical profile. Washington, DC: Southeast Asian Resource Action Center.

35.

Ong, A. (1995). Making the biopolitical subject: Cambodian immigrants, refugee medicine, and cultural citizenship in California. Social Science and Medicine, 40(9), 1243–1257.CrossRefPubMed

36.

Onwuegbuzie, A. J., Dickinson, W. B., Leech, N. L., Zoran, A. G. (2009). A qualitative framework for collecting and analyzing data in focus group research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 8(3), 1–21.

37.

Perkins, C. I., Morris, C. R., Wright, W. E., & Young, J. L. (1995). Cancer incidence and mortality in California by detailed race/ethnicity, 1988–1992. Sacramento: California Department of Health Services.

38.

Pfeifer, M. E. (2005). Census releases 2005 American community survey data for Southeast Asian Americans. Accessed 2007, from www.hmongstudies.org.

39.

Pickwell, S. (1999). Multilevel healing pursuits of Cambodian refugees. Journal of Immigrant Health, 1, 165–179.CrossRefPubMed

40.

Pollack, H., Wan, K., Ramos, R., et al. (2006). Screening for chronic hepatitis B among Asian/Pacific Islander populations—New York City, 2005. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 55, 505–509.

41.

President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders. (2003). Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders—Addressing health disparities: Opportunities for buildings a healthier America. Washington, DC: Department of Health and Human Services.

42.

Sargent, C., & Marcucci, J. (1984). Aspects of Khmer medicine among refugees in urban America. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 16(1), 7–9.

43.

Taylor, V. M., Seng, P., Acorda, E., Sawn, L., & Li, L. (2009). Hepatitis B knowledge and practices among Cambodian immigrants. Journal of Cancer Education, 24(2), 100–104.CrossRefPubMed

Title: Chumnguh Thleum: Understanding Liver Illness and Hepatitis B Among Cambodian Immigrants
Authors: Nancy J. Burke
Hoai Huyen Do
Jocelyn Talbot
Channdara Sos
Danika Svy
Victoria M. Taylor
Publication date: 01-02-2011
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Journal of Community Health / Issue 1/2011
Print ISSN: 0094-5145
Electronic ISSN: 1573-3610
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-010-9277-y

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Chumnguh Thleum: Understanding Liver Illness and Hepatitis B Among Cambodian Immigrants

Abstract

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 1/2011

The Development and Implementation of a User-Friendly Priority Setting Tool for HIV Care and Treatment Services in New York City

Still Unhealthy 2009: Building Community Research to Identify Risk Factors and Health Outcomes in Childhood Obesity

Factors Associated with Arsenicosis and Arsenic Exposure Status in Nepal: Implications from Community Based Study

Paving a Path to Inclusion

Hepatitis B Among Pacific Islanders in Southern California: How is Health Information Associated with Screening and Vaccination?

A Survey of Patients and Providers at Free Clinics Across the United States