Asian and Pacific Islander Cancer Education Materials Web Tool
- What is the Asian and Pacific Islander Cancer Education Materials
(APICEM) Web tool?
The APICEM Web tool offers health care providers a place to search for
patient-oriented cancer education materials on the basis of specific Asian
and Pacific Islander (API) languages, cancer site, or cancer-related topic.
It is a one-stop Web site that permits easy retrieval of credible cancer
education materials designed for lay audiences. Materials available were
written in API languages, as well as in English, and were culturally tailored
for API audiences. The APICEM Web tool is not a library; it does not provide
access to all existing resources. Instead, it serves as a resource center
for selected API language materials provided by reputable organizations.
It searches a database of information provided by the contributors. Materials
do not actually reside in the Web tool; instead, links are provided to the
materials on participating organizations’ respective Web sites. Although
the number of materials available through the APICEM Web tool will be limited
upon launch, the resource will grow over time with more and newer links
to API-language cancer education information.
- Where can I locate the APICEM tool on the Web?
You can access the tool at the American Cancer Society (ACS) Web site at
http://www.cancer.org/apicem
or at the Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research and Training
(AANCART) Web site at http://www.aancart.org/apicem
on the Internet. AANCART is a National Cancer Institute-supported project
that brings together researchers and community advocates from Sacramento,
Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu, Seattle, and Boston in a coordinated
effort to reduce cancer in Asian Americans. AANCART is headquartered at
the University of California (UC), Davis.
- Who initiated the project to develop the APICEM Web Tool?
The project was conceived in March 2002 at the first joint meeting of AANCART
and the ACS Council. During that meeting, a proposal surfaced to develop
Web sites for Asian-translated cancer information.
The need to easily identify and access Asian-language cancer education materials
again surfaced in a question-and-answer session at the AANCART Sacramento
Academy in October 2004. After that meeting, Moon S. Chen, Jr., Principal
Investigator of AANCART and Associate Director for Cancer Disparities and
Research at the UC Davis Cancer Center in Sacramento, initiated exploratory
discussions between AANCART and ACS to devise ways of compiling and cataloguing
these materials so they would be more readily available to health care providers
who may need them.
- Who developed the Web tool?
Working with AANCART, the ACS developed a multifaceted Web tool that allowed
member organizations to contribute their information and allowed the public
to access that information.
- What kind of materials and information will be made available through
the Web tool?
The Web tool is designed to provide credible information regarding cancer
treatment, screening, and prevention in multiple languages via the Web sites
of the participating organizations.
- Who can use the Web tool?
The intended audience for the APICEM Web tool includes physicians, nurses,
social workers, and other health care providers who care for patients who
have limited English proficiency and communicate in an Asian or Pacific
Islander language. Additionally, there is a need for cancer education materials
in Asian or Pacific Islander languages for patients who prefer reading materials
in their native language. Some of these materials are available on the Web,
but they are embedded in Web sites that are not easily identified or not
easily searchable. This Web tool will permit a health care provider to search
for cancer education materials on the basis of language, cancer site, cancer-related
topic, and organization. Once the appropriate educational material is identified,
it can then be printed out for the patient to read.
- How is content being added to the Web tool?
There are more than a dozen organizations whose cancer education materials
are being linked through the APICEM Web tool. Those organizations include
the National Cancer Institute; AANCART; ACS; University of California, San
Francisco (UCSF); University of California, Los Angeles; University of Washington;
Stanford Asian Liver Center; Chinese Community Health Resource Center (CCHRC);
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center-Ethnomed; Hmong Women's Heritage
Association; 'Imi Hale-Native Hawaiian Cancer Network; Immunization Action
Coalition; Susan G. Komen for the Cure; American Samoa Community Cancer
Network; and Weaving an Islander Network for Cancer Awareness, Research,
and Training (WINCART). Organizations and their materials are identified
through the Governance Committee and community partners. If you have or
know of materials that should be included in the Web tool, please contact
apicem@cancer.org.
- What are some examples of possible uses of the Web tool?
Here are two examples:
- A non English-speaking Vietnamese woman is advised to get a Pap smear
and wants more information about why she should. The health care provider
can go to the AANCART Web site, click on the APICEM Web tool, select Vietnamese
(language), cervical cancer (site), and screening (topic), and will be
led to the UCSF site where information about cervical cancer screening
can be read in Vietnamese.
- A non English-speaking Chinese man has prostate cancer and wants to
learn more about this disease. His doctor can go to the ACS Web site,
click on the APICEM Web tool on the Asian language Web page, select Chinese
(language), prostate cancer (site), and treatment (topic), and will be
led to the CCHRC site for information on prostate cancer.
- What is the significance of APICEM?
The ability to read and speak English strongly affects a person’s
ability to access health information and to communicate effectively with
health care providers.
The U.S. Census Bureau gathers information about the languages people speak
in their homes, people's self-described English proficiency, and whether
individuals are "linguistically isolated," defined as living in
a household in which no one over age 13 speaks English very well.
According to "Diverse Communities, Diverse Experiences: The Status
of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S.," an analysis
of Census 2000 data published by the Asian and Pacific Islander American
Health Forum, 73 percent of Asian Americans spoke a language other than
English in their homes. This rate is 4 times higher than the national average
of 18 percent and more than 12 times the rate for whites. Among Native Hawaiians
and other Pacific Islanders, 35 percent spoke a language other than English
in the home. This rate is almost twice the national average and almost 6
times that of whites.
Census 2000 data also show that nearly 4 million Asian Americans and nearly
94,000 Pacific Islanders had limited English proficiency. The rate of limited
English proficiency among Asian Americans was more than 4 times higher than
that of the general population and more than 18 times the rate among whites.
The rate for Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders was 1.5 times
higher than that of the general population and 6 times the rate among whites.
Nearly 870,000 Asian American households and nearly 14,000 Pacific Islander
households were linguistically isolated. Asian Americans were 6 times more
likely than the general population and nearly 25 times more likely than
whites to live in a linguistically isolated household. Six percent of Native
Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders lived in linguistically isolated households,
compared with 4 percent of households in the general population. Compared
with whites, Pacific Islanders were 6 times more likely to be linguistically
isolated.
# # #
Related NCI materials and Web pages:
How can we help? We offer comprehensive research-based information for patients and their families, health professionals, cancer researchers, advocates, and the public.
 Back to Top |
