Exploring Patient-Physician Communication in Breast Cancer Care for African American Women Following Primary Treatment

Abstract

The present study's findings highlight the need expressed by breast cancer survivors for comprehensive guidance from healthcare providers in developing plans of care that improve patients' quality of life and target recurrence risk. Guidelines are available for dissemination and use in medical settings; however, the guidelines have not been incorporated into standard medical practice for patients with cancer. Information about long-term follow-up care after primary treatment should target the specific needs of survivors from diverse ethnic, socioeconomic, and educational backgrounds to promote understanding of surveillance to detect recurrence, long-term effects of cancer treatments, and general health maintenance.

Transitioning to Breast Cancer Survivorship: Perspectives of Patients, Cancer Specialists, and Primary Care Providers

“…This supports limited prior research on the views of African-American survivors. 17,18 Further examination of these findings and their potential impact on survivorship care and communication with providers is warranted.…”

Evaluating Survivorship Experiences and Needs Among Rural African American Breast Cancer Survivors

“…Understanding the cultural relevance of keeping secrets and how it may influence treatment seeking, fear of disclosure, and survivorship are vital to bringing evidence-based interventions to underserved communities [16]. Rural AA-BCS dealt cumulatively with a cancer diagnosis coupled with the negative perception of cancer held by their family and social circle [16,17]. Delay in treatment appeared to be related to the fear of dealing with negative evaluation of community members.…”

Are survivorship care plans responsive to African-American breast cancer survivors?: voices of survivors and advocates

“…The need for more studies on the science and practice of SCPs with ethnic minority survivors is urgent, especially studies in which the voices of the cancer survivors who will directly benefit from SCPs are sought [8,10,24,25]. Cancer survivors can offer a level of first-hand knowledge and expertise about the needs of survivors that medical researchers and providers might not be able to provide.…”