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Use of cancer support groups among Latina breast cancer survivors

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Abstract

Introduction

Although Latina women diagnosed with breast cancer may be at greater risk of psychosocial morbidity compared to white women, few utilize support services such as support groups. Reasons for this under-use among Latinas are unknown.

Methods

A cross-sectional telephone survey examined the association of predisposing, enabling, and need factors with use of cancer support groups among 330 Latina breast cancer survivors recruited from a population-based tumor registry in counties with Spanish language support groups.

Results

Thirty-two percent had ever used a support group. Among the 225 (68%) women who had never used one, major reasons for not using a support group included receiving enough support from other sources (20%), not needing one (18%), and being unaware of groups in their local area (17%). Women receiving quite a bit or a lot of encouragement from family members to attend a cancer support group were seven times more likely to have ever attended one than women receiving little or no encouragement (OR = 7.04, 95% CI 3.72, 13.30). Spiritual well-being was inversely associated with ever having attended a support group (OR = 0.93, 95% CI 0.89, 0.98).

Discussion

Results suggest that families play an important role in promoting use of support groups among Latina breast cancer survivors, and that spirituality may offer an alternative source of support.

Implications for Cancer Survivors

More effort should be directed toward providing culturally and linguistically appropriate support services to breast cancer survivors, and increasing awareness of these services among oncologists, patients and family members.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a pilot grant from the National Cancer Institute to Redes En Acción, grant no. U01-CA86117 and grant no. P30-AG15272, from the Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research program of the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Nursing Research, and the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health. Cancer incidence data used in this publication were collected by the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry of the Northern California Cancer Center, under contract N01-PC-35136 with the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, and with support from the California Cancer Registry, a project of the Cancer Surveillance Section, California Department of Health Services, under subcontract 1006128 with the Public Health Institute. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Northern California Cancer Center, the California Public Health Institute or the US Department of Health and Human Services, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the US Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical Effectiveness Research Center for Diverse Populations and the Center for Aging in Diverse Communities, Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Suite 335, San Francisco, CA, 94118-1944, USA

    Anna M. Nápoles-Springer, Helen O’Brien, Marynieves Díaz-Méndez & Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable

  2. UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Anna M. Nápoles-Springer & Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable

  3. Círculo de Vida Cancer Support and Resource Center, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Carmen Ortíz

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  1. Anna M. Nápoles-Springer
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Nápoles-Springer, A.M., Ortíz, C., O’Brien, H. et al. Use of cancer support groups among Latina breast cancer survivors. J Cancer Surviv 1, 193–204 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-007-0029-7

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