Culturally appropriate photonovel development and process evaluation for hepatitis B prevention in Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese American communities.

Asian Americans have disproportionately high prevalence of chronic hepatitis B virus infection in the United States and yet have low hepatitis B screening and vaccination rates. We developed three photonovels specifically designed for Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese Americans and evaluated their cultural relevance and effectiveness in increasing self-efficacy and intention to have a hepatitis B screening. Photonovels' storylines were drawn from focus group themes, and lay people from each community played actors/actresses in community settings. Photonovels were pilot tested, revised, and distributed in a hepatitis B intervention. A two-page process evaluation questionnaire was mailed to 441 participants after one month. Descriptive analysis and multiple logistic regressions were conducted to assess the overall evaluation of the photonovel and to assess factors associated with self-efficacy and intention to have hepatitis B screening. Eighty-four percent of participants responded to the process evaluation. The majority of participants either strongly agreed or agreed that the cancer information in the photonovel was helpful, the story was written by someone who knows the community, and the information was easy to understand. Overall, more than 80% of them thought this photonovel was a good teaching tool. Favorable evaluation of the photonovel was associated with both having intention and self-efficacy to have a hepatitis B screening in the next 5 months. When stratified by level of education and income, the associations were stronger among the lower income and education groups. Culturally appropriate photonovels are useful tools to promote hepatitis B screening among Asian Americans, especially among those of lower socioeconomic status.