The Asian Immigrant Cancer Survivor Experience in the United States: A Scoping Review of the Literature

Abstract

Background Cancer is the leading cause of death for Asian Americans, a growing population in the United States. While cancer survivors often experience complex issues after diagnosis, being an immigrant and having cancer pose additional challenges. Objective This scoping review analyzed research about immigrant cancer survivors of Asian ethnicity in the United States and provided a structured method to understand an area of research and evidence. Aims focused on immigrants’ experiences and how findings could tailor evidence-based interventions, programs, and resources. Methods The PubMed, CINAHL, and Scopus databases were searched to identify studies in English (2009-2018) targeting Asian immigrant cancer survivors in the United States. While 385 records were initially identified, 32 studies met the inclusion criteria. Results Thematic analysis of charted study elements revealed 4 themes with subthemes: (1) survival patterns, (2) barriers, (3) culturally informed care, and (4) quality of life (QOL). While qualitative studies provided insight about the cancer experience from immigrants’ perspectives, quantitative designs posed descriptions and associations among QOL concepts. Conclusions Study results illustrate the need for survival research that explores outcomes by Asian ethnic subgroups and tracks the influence of acculturation. Future research should test culturally informed interventions that minimize barriers and foster QOL across the cancer continuum. Culturally tailored instruments can expedite larger-scaled studies that allow generalization. Implications for Practice Asian immigrants comprise an underserved, vulnerable, and growing group with various cancers. Nurses who care for immigrants and their families should be cognizant of cultural beliefs, values, practices, and issues related to communication, care access, and socioeconomics.

A systematic review of the impact of cancer survivorship interventions with Asian American cancer survivors.

“…All included interventions scored fairly well on quality appraisal, even the pilot studies, ranging from 10 to 13 (out of 13) for the RCTs and five to seven (out of eight) for the quasi-experimental studies. Overall, interventions included in this review addressed the informational, psychosocial, and social support needs of Asian cancer survivors, aligning with the needs identified from previous systematic reviews with Asian Americans (Lockhart et al, 2020; Nolan et al, 2021; Wen, Fang, et al, 2014; Wen, Hu, et al, 2014).…”

“…A systematic review of Asian American breast cancer survivors’ preferences showed low utilization of survivorship care plans, citing barriers such as language, communication and relationship with providers, lack of survivorship education, and systemic health care barriers (Nolan et al, 2021). In addition, Asian cancer survivors reported needing culturally sensitive care, health care providers who have an understanding that different cultures have different norms and practices, integration of alternative medicine and spirituality into survivorship care, increased social support, and support in addressing their psychosocial concerns (Lockhart et al, 2020; Nolan et al, 2021; Wen, Fang, et al, 2014; Wen, Hu, et al, 2014). Hence, the current literature demonstrates that Asian cancer survivors have unmet survivorship needs and desire culturally relevant and sensitive survivorship care.…”

“…Previous research has highlighted the centrality of culture in one’s perspective of the cancer survivorship experience, decision-making, and coping. There have been calls for greater consideration of culture in intervention development, design, content, measurement, and implementation (Ashing-Giwa et al, 2004; Aziz & Rowland, 2002; Cao & Cho, 2021; Lockhart et al, 2020). Previous systematic reviews focusing on Asian Americans have synthesized studies of the cancer experience and survivorship (Wen, Fang, et al, 2014) and support group interventions (Chou et al, 2016) but these reviews were limited to breast cancer survivors only.…”

Attitudes toward Technology-Based Cancer Support Programs Among Korean American Breast Cancer Survivors

“…The theme of “Overcoming Language Barriers” is also consistent with the current literature on language barriers among racial/ethnic minority cancer survivors. Studies have reported that language barriers are one of the major barriers that Asian-American cancer patients and survivors would experience in the U.S. health care systems (Chou et al, 2016; Lockhart et al, 2020). Many of the participants of this study perceived that they would be disadvantageous in navigating the U.S. health care systems because of their language barriers, and they strongly asserted that technology-based cancer support programs in their native languages would help them successfully go through their survivorship.…”

Development and Validation of the Cancer Fatigue Scale: A Methodological Study

“…Thus, reducing patients' fatigue and pain, and treating the tumor is important in cancer management (M. K. Jang et al, 2021;Rau et al, 2020). More than 70% of patients complain of fatigue, and many previous studies have suggested that access to interventions such as physical activity, psychological education, cognitive behavior intervention, and mental and physical therapy are useful in its reduction (Lockhart et al, 2020;Maass et al, 2021;Rau et al, 2020).…”