Beyond Resettlement: Sociocultural Factors Influencing Breast and Colorectal Cancer Screening Among Afghan Refugee Women

Immigrants and refugees have an increased risk for developing chronic health conditions, such as breast and colorectal cancer, the longer they reside in the USA. Moreover, refugees are less even likely to use preventive health services like mammography and colonoscopy screening when compared with US-born counterparts. Focused ethnography was employed to examine sociocultural factors that influenced cancer screening behaviors among aging Afghan refugee women. We conducted 19 semi-structured interviews with Afghan women 50 and older and their family member/caregivers. Interview transcripts were inductively coded using Atlas.ti, where focused codes were sorted and reduced into categories, and we extracted meaning around groups of categories. Findings of this study revealed factors like fear of cancer, pre-migration experiences, family involvement, provider recommendation, and provider gender concordance influenced women’s cancer screening behaviors. This study also found that women who have had a recent mammogram or colonoscopy described empowerment factors that helped them withstand the stressful process of screening, through encouragement and reminders from providers, support from adult family members, and finding strength through duaas (prayers). As refugee women continue to age in the USA, clinicians should incorporate multi-level strategies, including family-centered and faith-based approaches to promote preventive screening behaviors in this population.