Application of the Behavioral Model to Health Studies of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans

Abstract

PURPOSE. The purpose of this study is to review the literature to synthesize empirical health services research on Asian and Pacific Islander American (APIA) populations. Health studies of APIA are summarized using the Behavioral Model of Health Care Utilization, which has been expanded for racial and ethnic groups. METHODS. The MEDLINE databases from 1980 to 1994 were searched for all studies focusing on APIA populations using selected key words. In addition, we searched for comparative studies of APIA with other ethnic groups. Screened studies were assigned codes based on the expanded Behavioral Model using information contained in the abstracts. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS. Although the _number_ of studies that have been published on APIA populations have increased over the past 15 years, the _proportion_ of studies that focus on specific subgroups of the population has decreased. The populations that are most understudied relative to their size are Koreans and Filipinos. Most of the studies included population characteristics and evaluated/clinical outcomes, while studies of preceived and consumer satisfaction outcomes were relatively infrequent. CONCLUSIONS. Given the rapid growth of the APIA population, this group is underrepresented in the published work. Studies are needed that determine cultural influences on health status and outcomes of the health care system for ethnic subgrups of the APIA population. KEY WORDS. Asian Americans; Pacific Islanders; Behavioral Model; Asian Indian; Cambodian; Chinese; Filipino; Guamanian; Hawaiian; Hmong; Indochinese, Japanese, Koreans, Laos; Laotian; Samoan; Southeast Asian; Thai; and Vietnamese.