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Supportive care priorities of low-income Latina breast cancer survivors

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Abstract

Purpose

This study investigated the supportive care needs of a sample of low-income Latina breast cancer survivors.

Methods

Ninety-nine Spanish-speaking breast cancer survivors who self-identified as Latina and reported an income below the US Census Bureau low-income threshold were recruited from the oncology clinic of a major public safety net hospital. Eligible participants completed the supportive care needs survey (SCNS-SF34) and a demographic questionnaire.

Results

Ninety-three percent of respondents had unmet needs. The majority of frequently reported unmet needs involved (1) access to and delivery of health-related information and (2) physical function. These findings appear to contrast with those of other studies of supportive care needs in heterogeneous cancer survivors, most of which describe psychological concerns as most urgent.

Conclusions

Participants espoused information-related needs with a higher frequency than many other samples of cancer survivors. This study population may also require a particularly high level of assistance with overcoming participation restrictions. Further research is needed to understand these discrepancies and to address unmet needs across all domains.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by a research grant from the California Foundation for Occupational Therapy. The authors thank Gabrielle Granados and Karina Cordova for their contributions to this work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Alix G. Sleight, Cheryl Vigen & Florence Clark

  2. Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH, USA

    Kathleen Doyle Lyons

  3. Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, USA

    Kathleen Doyle Lyons

  4. Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Heather Macdonald

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  1. Alix G. Sleight
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  2. Kathleen Doyle Lyons
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Correspondence to Alix G. Sleight.

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Sleight, A.G., Lyons, K.D., Vigen, C. et al. Supportive care priorities of low-income Latina breast cancer survivors. Support Care Cancer 26, 3851–3859 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-018-4253-7

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