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© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Rural US Latina breast cancer patients experience language barriers, health literacy issues, and limited access to health care resources that negatively impact survivorship care. This study explored the challenges to survivorship care for rural Latina breast cancer (BC) patients and approaches to supporting survivorship care plans (SCP) from the stakeholders’ perspectives. Data were collected via eight focus groups (n = 40) and individual interviews (n = 4) with Latina BC patients, family caregivers, and health care professionals in a rural US-Mexico Border region. Interviews were audio-taped, transcribed, translated, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Themes related to the patient’s SCP challenges included: (1) lack of knowledge of treatment information, (2) lack of proactive health behavior, (3) gaps in information for care coordination, (4) psychological distress, and (5) difficulty retaining health information. Respondents expressed that the SCP document could fill patient information gaps as well as support patient communication with their clinicians and family. Rural BC patients demonstrated an acute need for information and active engagement in their survivorship care. The findings indicate the importance of addressing challenges for survivorship care on multiple dimensions: Cognitive, behavioral, social, and structural. Developing a culturally tailored SCP intervention will be imperative to support survivorship care.

Details

Title
Challenges for Latina Breast Cancer Patient Survivorship Care in a Rural US-Mexico Border Region
Author
Ko, Eunjeong 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Cardenas, Veronica 2 ; Zúñiga, María Luisa 1 ; Woodruff, Susan I 1 ; Rodriguez, Viviane 3 ; Palomino, Helen 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 School of Social Work, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182-4119, USA; [email protected] (M.L.Z.); [email protected] (S.I.W.) 
 Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, Moores Cancer Center, 3855 Health Sciences La Jolla, San Diego, CA 92093-0658, USA; [email protected] 
 MSW, Imperial County Behavioral Health Services, El Centro, CA 92243, USA; [email protected] 
 LCSW, Cancer Resource Center of the Desert, El Centro, CA 92243, USA; [email protected] 
First page
7024
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
MDPI AG
ISSN
1661-7827
e-ISSN
1660-4601
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2549337496
Copyright
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.