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Patient–Physician Relationships and Mammography Use in Korean American Women

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Abstract

Breast cancer is prevalent and fatal in Korean American women (KAW) and KAW report low screening rates. This study examined the impact of patient–physician relationships on mammography use in KAW, focusing on patient–physician ethnic and gender concordance, distrust in health professionals, and accessibility to health care. Cross-sectional survey data were collected from 340 KAW in North Carolina, and logistic regression was conducted to identify factors associated with mammography use. Having a non-Korean physician, regular check-ups, and physician recommendations were positively associated with getting mammography. Neither gender concordance nor distrust in health professionals predicted adherence to breast cancer screening guidelines. The findings highlight the critical roles of routine health care practice and usual source of care in compliance with the screening guidelines in KAW. Additional research is warranted to explore breast cancer screening recommendation behaviors and patterns of Korean American physicians compared to non-Korean counterparts.

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Data Availability

Due to the nature of this research, participants of this study did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data is not available.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Korean American immigrants who participated in this study. We also thank extend Dr. Blace Nalavany for his comments on the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by East Carolina University Division of Research, Economic Development, and Engagement.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, East Carolina University, 201 Rivers Building, Mailstop 505, Greenville, NC, 27858, USA

    Mi Hwa Lee & Jie Yang

  2. Department of Social Work and Sociology, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, Greensboro, NC, USA

    Soonok An

Authors
  1. Mi Hwa Lee
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Contributions

Conceptualization: MHL; funding acquisition: MHL; data collection: MHL; data analysis: JY; original draft writing: MHL, JY, SA; review and editing: MHL, JY, SA. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mi Hwa Lee.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. Also, the authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Ethical Approval

The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the East Carolina University.

Informed Consent

Written informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Lee, M.H., Yang, J. & An, S. Patient–Physician Relationships and Mammography Use in Korean American Women. J Immigrant Minority Health 25, 129–135 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-022-01375-z

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