Recruitment of breast cancer survivors and their caregivers: implications for dyad research and practice

Abstract

Breast cancer survivors' informal caregivers experience adverse health outcomes and could benefit from interventions. Studies of caregivers' participation in research, to date, have assumed heterosexuality. The aim of this study is to identify factors associated with caregiver participation among survivors with diversity in sexual orientation. We recruited breast cancer survivors into a telephone survey and asked them to invite a caregiver. Logistic regression identified factors associated with caregivers' participation. Among 297 survivors, 12 (4 %) had no caregivers, 82 (28 %) refused to provide caregiver information, 203 (68 %) provided caregiver contact, and 167 (56 %) had caregivers participate. Caregiver participation was more likely among sexual minority than heterosexual survivors (aOR: 1.89; 95 % CI: 1.08, 3.32), dyads with higher cohesion, and among caregivers who were partners. Caregiver participation was less likely among survivors with lower education and higher comorbidity. Findings provide insight into recruitment of diverse dyads into cancer survivorship research that will ultimately inform intervention design.

Fear of cancer recurrence in survivor and caregiver dyads: differences by sexual orientation and how dyad members influence each other

“…Also, this study focused on the dyad, therefore an inclusion criterion of this study was to have a participating caregiver, implying that we only included partnered survivors who had a participating spouse or partner. As we explained elsewhere [30], this criterion was easier met by partnered SMW survivors than by partnered HSW survivors, in that fewer male partners agreed to participate. SMW’ caregivers, the majority of whom self-reported a sexual minority identity themselves, were more likely employed, and shared with the SMW survivor greater experiences of discrimination and use of counseling before the cancer diagnosis compared HSW and their caregivers.…”

“…To address this gap in research on FOR among SMW and their caregivers, we conducted a study that recruited SMW and HSW with breast cancer. Each participating woman with breast cancer was asked to put us in contact with her partner or spouse if partnered, while survivors without a partner were asked to identify the most important support person to them, as we explained in more detail elsewhere [30]. Having survey data from survivors of different sexual orientations and their participating caregivers allows for a detailed examination of the explanatory factors of survivors and their caregivers’ FOR.…”

Resilience Among Breast Cancer Survivors of Different Sexual Orientations

“…32 Because SMW with breast cancer and their caregivers have similarly elevated levels of distress and fear of cancer recurrence, 33 understanding caregivers' resilience, which may be correlated with survivors' resilience, 34 is an area for future intervention research. 35 Finally, because resilience is an individual characteristic, it should be noted that studies of resilience should continue assessing the influence of social and structural determinants of health that affect SM populations disproportionately and may interact with resilience processes in specific and significant ways. 4 Despite these limitations, our study provides insight into factors associated with resilience among breast cancer survivors of diverse sexual orientations.…”

Dyadic stress of breast cancer survivors and their caregivers: Are there differences by sexual orientation?

“…Most research has focused on heterosexual women (HSW) with breast cancer and their husbands, neglecting breast cancer survivors who are supported by nonspousal caregivers and sexual minority women (SMW), defined as lesbian, bisexual women, and women with a woman partner . Only limited information is available on SMW caregivers, who are often female and the partners of survivors . More research is needed to understand outcomes in these understudied breast cancer survivor and caregiver populations.…”

“…7 Only limited information is available on SMW care-givers, who are often female and the partners of survivors. 8,9 More research is needed to understand outcomes in these understudied breast cancer survivor and caregiver populations.…”