Sexual minority–specific experiences of colorectal cancer survivors.

Abstract

Objective: To examine how sexual minority-specific factors relate to colorectal cancer survivors' health-related quality of life, psychological adjustment, and quality of care. Method: One hundred twenty-seven sexual minority survivors diagnosed with stage I, II, or III colorectal cancer were recruited from four cancer registries. An average of 3 years after diagnosis, eligible survivors participated in a telephone survey, which measured survivors' outcomes, consisting of physical and mental quality of life, anxiety, depression, self-rated fair or poor health, and quality of care. We considered sexual minorityspecific factors (e.g., outness, discrimination) as correlates for each survivorship outcome using forward selection with generalized linear or logistic regression models. Results: After adjusting for confounders, accumulation of lifetime discrimination experiences had negative associations with survivors' physical and mental quality of life, anxiety, and depression. Sexual minority-specific discrimination experiences were negatively associated with perceived quality of care after adjusting for confounders. Sexual minority survivors' self-rated fair or poor health and their rating of care as excellent were independent of sexual minority-specific factors. Conclusion: Addressing and counteracting sexual minority-specific and other lifetime discrimination experiences may be a pathway to improving sexual minority cancer survivors' quality of care, quality of life, and psychological adjustment.