Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess Korean Americans’ (KAs) health and cultural beliefs
about colorectal cancer (CRC) and their CRC screening utilization in order to understand how health and
cultural beliefs play a role in CRC screening utilization and why KAs have a low rate of CRC screening.
Methods: Face-to-face, individual interviews with 26 Korean immigrants aged 50 and older were conducted in Korean. A semi-structured interview guide with open-ended questions was used to explore
participants’ health and cultural beliefs about CRC and CRC screening. Recorded audio interviews were
transcribed verbatim in Korean and coded using thematic analysis.
Results: The themes that emerged from analyzing the individual interview data were: (a) valuing their
families before themselves; (b) seeing a doctor only if they have symptoms; (c) believing that they would
not get CRC; (d) balancing the will to stay healthy and fatalism; and (e) refusing health information.
Conclusion: Results show the critical need for in-depth understanding of unique health and cultural
beliefs about CRC screening in KAs. These beliefs could be useful for future intervention strategies to
change health and cultural beliefs in order to increase CRC screening participation in KAs.