Impact of a bilingual education intervention on the quality of life of Latina breast cancer survivors

Abstract

Purpose/objectives: To test the effectiveness of a bilingual education intervention to improve the quality of life (QOL) of Latina breast cancer survivors (BCSs) after completing primary treatment for breast cancer.

Design: A two-group prospective, longitudinal, randomized, controlled trial.

Setting: An ambulatory-care setting of a designated comprehensive cancer center in southern California.

Sample: 52 English- and Spanish-speaking Latina BCSs.

Methods: Women were randomly assigned to the experimental or attention control group and completed measures of QOL, uncertainty, distress, and acculturation at baseline, and at three and six months postintervention.

Main research variables: QOL, uncertainty, and distress.

Findings: After controlling for acculturation, the four dimensions of QOL increased slightly in the groups or remained unchanged without significant group-by-time interaction. The social and psychological well-being subscales had the lowest scores, followed by physical and spiritual well-being. Although the group-by-time interaction was not statistically significant, the post-hoc difference for total QOL between time 2 and time 3 in the experimental group approached significance, with a slight increase in total QOL.

Conclusions: Latina BCSs have multiple survivorship and QOL concerns that might put them at risk for poor QOL.

Implications for nursing: More culturally congruent intervention studies are needed to address the paucity of intervention research with Latina BCS.

Knowledge translation: Core values must be incorporated in the development of health education programs. Those programs also should be linguistically appropriate and available to non-English-speaking Latinas. In this way, the informational and supportive needs of all BCSs can be met.