Chinese immigrants' management of their cardiovascular disease risk.

The authors have undertaken a series of grounded theory studies to describe and explain how ethnocultural affiliation and gender influence the process that cardiac patients undergo when faced with making behavior changes associated with reducing their cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Data were collected through audiorecorded semistructured interviews (using an interpreter as necessary), and the authors analyzed the data using constant comparative methods. The core variable that emerged through the series of studies was "meeting the challenge." Here, the authors describe the findings from a sample of Chinese immigrants (10 men, 5 women) to Canada. The process of managing CVD risk for the Chinese immigrants was characterized by their extraordinary diligence in seeking multiple sources of information to enable them to manage their health.