Breast and cervical cancer control among Pacific Islander and southeast Asian women: Participatory action research strategies for baseline data collection in California

Background. No data exists on the breast and cervical cancer screening practices among Cambodian, Laotian, Thai, and Tongan women. In this article, we describe the efforts required to conduct a baseline survey among these non-English-speaking women using the participatory action research (PAR) approach. Methods. We tailored small population sampling techniques to each of the populations in partnership with Community Health Outreach workers. Results. A total of 1825 surveys were successfully conducted in 8 communities. Conclusion. PAR and the culturally based techniques used to conduct the survey proved successful in maintaining scientific rigor, developing true community-researcher partnership, and achieving over 99% participation.