Cancer is the leading cause of death for Asian Americans, the fastest growing U.S. immigrant group projected to outnumber Latinx Americans by 2065. Provision of high-quality supportive care for Asian American cancer patients with metastatic disease is critically needed; however, there is a dearth of literature on this topic. Within the Asian American population, Confucian-heritage East Asian and Southeast Asian ethnic groups share cultural values and norms relevant to tailoring cancer care, and a goal of the K99 phase is to generate mixed- methods data on supportive care needs specifically for Chinese-, Vietnamese-, and Korean-descent (CVK) patients with metastatic cancer. Findings from the K99 phase will be shared with research participants and applied collaboratively to develop culturally relevant supportive care resources in the R00 phase. The overall training objective of this Early K99/R00 is to provide Dr. Kim with additional years of mentorship to become a highly qualified independent investigator at the intersection of culture and supportive oncology. Training goals include developing competencies in: 1) patient/family-centered and stakeholder-engaged cancer care research, 2) patient-reported outcomes, needs, and preferences in metastatic cancer, 3) advanced mixed- methods research particularly for working with non-English speaking participants, and 4) psychosocial intervention development in cancer. Through the proposed training, Dr. Kim?s background in qualitative and quantitative research, culturally-grounded research in Asian American populations, and cancer-related coping processes will be integrated to solidify expertise in mixed methods and cultural implications for psychosocial/behavioral cancer control as she transitions into an independent tenure-track faculty position. During the K99 phase, Dr. Kim will be under the primary mentorship of Dr. Annette Stanton at UCLA, alongside a strong co-mentorship team of experts (Drs. Marjorie Kagawa-Singer, Qian Lu, Anna Lau) committed to advancing Dr. Kim?s career. The proposed research will also document participants? reflections about the experience of collaborative research for developing future guidelines on inclusive research practices that promote advocacy. Dr. Kim?s long-term plan is to develop, test, and disseminate supportive care resources and interventions that are culturally relevant and scalable, toward the ultimate goals of facilitating quality care and improving outcomes in understudied populations with metastatic cancer.
Cancer incidence is expected to increase to 23.6 million by 2030 worldwide, and cancer is the leading cause of death for Asian Americans whose numbers are rapidly rising to reach 40 million by 2050. Despite instances of greater cancer-specific mortality compared to other Asians and likely limited access to high-quality care due many experiencing language barriers (~50%), very little is known about supportive care needs in Chinese-, Vietnamese-, and Korean-Americans with metastatic cancers. This project will fill a critical gap in our understanding, and develop culturally relevant and scalable psychosocial resources aimed at improving the quality of life of Chinese-, Vietnamese-, and Korean-Americans with metastatic cancers.
