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    J Community Health. 2009 Jun;34(3):165-72.

    Evaluation of a hepatitis B lay health worker intervention for Chinese Americans and Canadians.

    Taylor VM, Hislop TG, Tu SP, Teh C, Acorda E, Yip MP, Woodall E, Yasui Y.

    Cancer Prevention Program, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA. vtaylor@fhcrc.org

    Hepatitis B testing is recommended for immigrants from countries where hepatitis B infection is endemic. However, only about one-half of Chinese in North America have received hepatitis B testing. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a hepatitis B lay health worker intervention for Chinese Americans/Canadians. Four hundred and sixty individuals who had never been tested for hepatitis B were identified from community-based surveys of Chinese conducted in Seattle, Washington, and Vancouver, British Columbia. These individuals were randomly assigned to receive a hepatitis B lay health worker intervention or a direct mailing of physical activity educational materials. Follow-up surveys were completed 6 months after randomization. Self-reported hepatitis B testing was verified through medical records review. A total of 319 individuals responded to the follow-up survey (69% response rate). Medical records data verified hepatitis B testing since randomization for 9 (6%) of the 142 experimental group participants and 3 (2%) of the 177 control group participants (P = 0.04). At follow-up, a higher proportion of individuals in the experimental arm than individuals in the control arm knew that hepatitis B can be spread by razors (P < 0.001) and during sexual intercourse (P = 0.07). Our findings suggest that lay health worker interventions can impact hepatitis B-related knowledge. However, our hepatitis B lay health worker intervention had a very limited impact on hepatitis B testing completion. Future research should evaluate other intervention approaches to improving hepatitis B testing rates among Chinese in North America.

    PMID: 19127416 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

    PMCID: 2735565

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