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CANCER, BREAST CANCER DIAGNOSIS, RECRUITMENT
The recruitment settings included both online and offline cancer support groups and communities/groups for Asian Americans across the U.S. A total of 1313 cancer support groups and communities/groups were contacted, and 314 among them actually posted the study announcements. Three sub-ethnic groups of Asian Americans were selected: Chinese Americans, Korean Americans, and Japanese Americans. Chinese Americans are the biggest sub-ethnic groupParticipants were self-reported Asian American women aged 21 years and older who identified their sub-ethnicity as Chinese Americans, Korean Americans, or Japanese Americans; had a breast cancer diagnosis; could read and write English, Mandarin Chinese, Korean or Japanese; and had access to the Internet through computers or mobile devices (smart phones and tablets). Originally, only those who had a breast cancer diagnosis within 5 years were included, but the criterion was later changed with the NCI approval to eliminate the time limit due to difficulties in recruitment. When a volunteer met the inclusion criteria, she was stratified by sub-ethnic group, automatically assigned a serial number, and randomized into two groups (an intervention group and a control group) in each sub-ethnic group using an automated random number generator accessible through the website.