Field Placements: South Asian Network (SAN) and Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research, and Training (AANCART)
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Preceptor: Pradeepta Upadhyay
Student Name: Punam Parikh
Year: 2002

The "Southern California South Asian Health Needs Assessment" is a collaboration between South Asian Network (SAN) and Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research, and Training (AANCART) at UCLA. "South Asian" describes individuals from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Maldives. Project staff includes Dr. Roshan Bastani (principal investigator), Koy Parada, Zul Surani, Pradeepta Upadhyay (preceptor), and myself. Although SAN is my preceptor agency, I am working out of UCLA AANCART for the second half of the project. Survey administrators are comprised of South Asian individuals who have strong ties with their respective communities and are fluent in one or more South Asian languages.

This needs assessment is necessary as there exists a significant lack of research and data on the health needs of this population. The main goal of this project is to elucidate the health needs and gaps in services among South Asian adults (18 and over) in Southern California through a survey. The surveys will be conducted in the following counties: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino. The survey instrument was modified from a survey developed by AANCART. It is split into modules: demographics, general heath issues, healthcare provider access, heart disease and diabetes, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, prostate cancer, domestic violence, and tobacco use. Separate surveys were created for men and women as information exclusive to each gender is sought. The survey instrument has been translated into Hindi, Gujarati, Punjabi, and Bengali.

To capture the diversity under the South Asian umbrella, specifications as to how many individuals from each South Asian country should be surveyed are necessary. Census data of the number of South Asians in Southern California was used to calculate these numbers. We plan to survey 529 individuals over a six-week period. Because the Nepali, Bhutanese, and Maldivian communities are extremely small and scattered throughout Southern California, specifications as to how many of these individuals to survey were not made. We want to survey an equal proportion of men and women, although we do not have stringent requirements for this. Surveys will be conducted over the telephone and in-person. A random sample will be taken from SAN's client database, and these surveys will be conducted over the phone. Participants for the in-person interviews will be recruited at South Asian community and/or religious events though systematic random sampling. Data will be entered into SPSS, analyzed, and summarized in a formal report.

The "South Asian Women and Breast Cancer Screening" media campaign aims to educate and inform South Asian women over 40 in Southern California about the importance of regular breast cancer screenings and available resources using a social marketing strategy. The campaign will be conducted in English, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, and Bengali to reflect the different South Asian languages and will last approximately six months. Project staff for the media campaign consists of Zul Surani, Pradeepta Upadhyay, and myself. By creating images and messages that South Asian women can identify with and understand, we hope to increase the number of women receiving breast cancer screenings. The advertisement (see appendices) instructs uninsured, English speaking women to call the California Breast Cancer Early Detection Program (BCEDP) consumer phone line for a referral to a nearby clinic offering free or low-cost mammograms. The advertisements in Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, and Bengali will instruct monolingual South Asian women to call SAN for assistance in appointment coordination. The advertisements will run in South Asian newspapers, such as India West and Pakistan Link, movie theaters playing Hindi films, South Asian radio programs, and will be distributed as flyers at SAN's outreach events. The effectiveness of the media campaign will be measured by tracking the number of calls to both SAN and the BCEDP consumer phone line in response to the advertisements and the number of women receiving breast cancer screenings.

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