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. 2019 Apr;27(4):1383-1394.
doi: 10.1007/s00520-018-4426-4. Epub 2018 Aug 22.

Unmet supportive care needs in Hispanic/Latino cancer survivors: prevalence and associations with patient-provider communication, satisfaction with cancer care, and symptom burden

Patricia I Moreno  1 , Amelie G Ramirez  2 , Sandra L San Miguel-Majors  3 , Leopoldo Castillo  1 , Rina S Fox  1 , Kipling J Gallion  2 , Edgar Munoz  2 , Ryne Estabrook  1 , Arely Perez  2 , Thomas Lad  4 , Courtney Hollowell  5 , Frank J Penedo  6
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Unmet supportive care needs in Hispanic/Latino cancer survivors: prevalence and associations with patient-provider communication, satisfaction with cancer care, and symptom burden

Patricia I Moreno et al. Support Care Cancer. 2019 Apr.

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to elucidate the prevalence of unmet supportive care needs in Hispanic/Latino cancer survivors and examine the association between unmet needs and patient-provider communication, satisfaction with cancer care, and cancer-specific symptom burden.

Methods: Hispanics/Latinos diagnosed with breast, prostate, or colorectal cancer within 15 months of treatment completion (n = 288) completed questionnaires as part of an NCI-funded project.

Results: Hispanic/Latino cancer survivors reported greater unmet needs compared to previously published norms in primarily non-Hispanic/Latino white samples. Across the three cancer types, the two most common unmet needs were in the psychological domain: fear of metastasis (32.6%) and concern for close others (31.3%). However, unmet needs varied by cancer type. Factors associated with greater unmet needs included more recent cancer diagnosis (OR .98 [.96-.99]), younger age (OR .96-.97 [.93-.99]), female gender (OR 2.53-3.75 [1.53-7.36]), and being single (OR 1.82 [1.11-2.97]). Breast cancer survivors reported greater unmet needs than both prostate and colorectal cancer survivors (OR 2.33-5.86 [1.27-14.01]). Adjusting for sociodemographic and medical covariates, unmet needs were associated with lower patient-provider communication self-efficacy (B = - .18-- .22, p's < .01) and satisfaction with cancer care (B = - 3.57-- 3.81, p's < .05), and greater breast (B = - 4.18-- 8.30, p's < .01) and prostate (B = - 6.01-- 8.13, p's < .01) cancer-specific symptom burden.

Conclusions: Findings document unmet supportive care needs in Hispanic/Latino cancer survivors and suggest that reducing unmet needs in Hispanic/Latino cancer survivors may improve not only satisfaction with care, but also health-related quality of life.

Keywords: Hispanic; Latino; Patient-provider communication; Satisfaction with care; Supportive care; Survivorship; Unmet needs.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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