Derivation and pilot assessment of a health promotion program for mandarin-speaking Chinese older adults

As the percentage of older adults of diverse ethnicities increases in the U nited States, the call for culturally sensitive health care service strateg ies that target the special needs of older people grows. The present report describes methods used to adapt a health care program so that it would bet ter meet the needs of a group of well, older Mandarin-speaking Chinese resi dents of Los Angeles. The specific qualitative research procedures that we used to adapt the treatment program are described, along with the particula r adaptations that emerged. Additionally, outcomes from a randomized pilot experiment are presented that are consistent with the notion that the adapt ed program was effective in reducing health-related declines among older Ma ndarin-speaking men and women. The overall outcome of this project is in ag reement with other reports in the health care literature that address the i mportance of providing culturally sensitive health care service for elders.