Disparities in quality of life in Latino youth in cancer treatment and their families have been well documented. Parents of children undergoing cancer treatment experience increased stress that impacts physical and emotional health and subsequently, quality of care received by children. Access to supportive interventions may also be limited for Latino caregivers, due to myriad factors such as lack of insurance, income, language barriers, and documentation status. Accordingly, we aimed to address this gap in the literature by engaging in an equitable collaboration with community partners to develop an intervention to improve quality of life in Latino caregivers of children with cancer. Specifically, we utilized a community-based participatory research (CBPR) model to create a community advisory board with which to partner in this endeavor. Spanish-speaking parents of youth who were in or had previously undergone cancer treatment were recruited. We held regular meetings over the course of one year to identify themes of recurring experiences and barriers to optimal quality of life during children’s cancer treatment. Meetings were continuously evaluated to ensure adherence to the following CBPR principles: 1. collaborative & equitable, 2. mutually beneficial, 3. co-learning process and were transcribed and coded for thematic elements. Significant themes unique to this population included: increased parental stress given cancer care generally fell to one parent, minimal access to self-care strategies, lack of culturally competent healthcare, lack of access to appropriate health-related information, and language barriers affecting quality of communication and information transfer. These themes were used to identify components of a caregiver intervention that includes modules addressing interactions with healthcare providers, self-care with a focus on stress management, and health literacy. Next steps in this program of research are to vet the intervention components with a larger community advisory board to ensure cultural relevance and appropriateness and develop and implement the intervention. This program of research has the potential to minimize disparities in psychosocial outcomes in underserved Latino families of children with cancer. Citation Format: Michelle A Fortier, Ramon Garcia, Lessley Torres, Sonia Zavala, Beverly Mendoza, Elisa Ornelas, Haydee Cortes, Zeev N Kain, Belinda Campos. A community-based participatory research approach to address healthcare disparities in quality of life of Latino parents of children with cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2019 Sep 20-23; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(6 Suppl_2):Abstract nr B038.
Background The coordination and degree of involvement of health professionals is essential for the success of the implementation of health promotion programmes. We belong to a regional multidisciplinary research group on Health Promotion. The aim of this study was to better ascertain how to empower the health professionals and general population. Methods A qualitative study was conducted among doctors, pharmacists, nurses, psychologists and veterinarians between March 2017 and December 2018. Six focus groups, with 32 women and 20 men purposively selected, were formed to determine the barriers and facilitators for the implementation of Health Promotion in their daily work and to assess their recommendations. Theoretical saturation was reached, and validity of the study was ensured by triangulation. Results The main barriers were: lack of training on Health Promotion which led to demotivation and distrust of own capacities, work overloaded and not valued neither by colleagues nor institutions, weak coordination between care and professional levels, inexistence of common guidelines, a health model based on disease and not addressing the social determinants of health, and, finally, legislation not being adequate. Volunteering, motivation and commitment of professionals were the most outstanding facilitators. Participants highlighted the need for all health professionals to be trained and to improve the budget for Health Promotion. They proposed that all health-related university degrees should incorporate a subject on Health Promotion. Likewise, better coordination between care and different professional levels is required, and the existing legislation should be enhanced for better promoting health. Conclusions The Health in All Policies approach should be provided with enough resources and consider all health disciplines. Further multidisciplinary studies are needed to make the system more people-centred. Key messages More training of health professionals’ skills and improved budget are required to implement health in all policies. Health Promotion policies need coordination and multidisciplinary guidelines.
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