The many “costs” of transportation: Examining what cancer caregivers experience as transportation obstacles

Thomson, Maria D.; Houtven, Courtney Harold Van; Xu, Rebecca; Siminoff, Laura A.

doi:10.1002/cam4.6351

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Previous analyses revealed that biweekly transportation costs can be as high as $43.60, and almost 60% of those surveyed reported a need for transportation accommodations on the "institutional level". 11 The results of this study emphasize a need for caretaker support and interventions. Previous research indicates promising results with regard to intervention efficacy; for instance, interventions that involve both caretakers and the patient-caretaker dyads yielded statistically significant improvements in the same core characteristics described in the present study: mental well-being, anxiety, and depression.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Cancer caregivers are primarily motivated by love and sense of duty

Gupta,

Hurley,

Mangal

et al. 2024

Health Psychology Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Cancer is a debilitating disease for which patients often need caretakers to help them live their lives and complete basic activities. This study aims to characterize the burden of the caretaker. A 14-question survey was sent out to randomly selected United States cancer caretakers to analyze the social, emotional, and physical burden of their caretaking. The results show that a majority of caretakers are direct family to the patient (69.5%). The patients’ cancers are often in early stages with about 54.5% having stage 1 cancer and 22.5% having stage 2 cancer while only 8.5% had stage 3 cancer and 17.8% had stage 4 cancer. When asked about their motivation, caretakers most often do it because of love (58.82%) with family responsibilities/duty being the second highest reason (35.56%). When asked about their biggest burden, many caretakers said that grief was the biggest issue (30.50%) with mental health issues also being troublesome (28%). 75.6% of respondents said that being a cancer caretaker has negatively impacted their mental health from either anxiety (37.29%), depression (33.9%), or other conditions (4.41%). When asked about the negative impacts of being a caregiver, 43.5% stated they faced high financial costs to give care, and 35% stated they met a lack of social support or lost friends. In comparison, 33% stated they had negative physical impacts. The number of participants who face overwhelming or high stress nearly quintupled from baseline, from 13% to 59.5%. This cross-sectional survey of US adults demonstrates that there are clear negative impacts on cancer caregivers on their physical, financial, social, and mental health. These data underscore the importance of taking care of patients’ caregivers.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Cancer caregivers are primarily motivated by love and sense of duty

Gupta,

Hurley,

Mangal

et al. 2024

Health Psychology Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Out-of-Pocket Cost Modeling of Adjuvant Radiation Therapy Duration in Standard-of-Care Early Stage Breast Cancer Treatment Across Medicaid and Medicare Plans

Wu,

Khlopin,

Jagsi

et al. 2024

Practical Radiation Oncology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Improving accessibility to radiotherapy services in Cali, Colombia: cross-sectional equity analyses using open data and big data travel times from 2020

Cuervo,

Villamizar,

Cuervo

et al. 2024

Int J Equity Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this study, we evaluated and forecasted the cumulative opportunities for residents to access radiotherapy services in Cali, Colombia, while accounting for traffic congestion, using a new people-centred methodology with an equity focus. Furthermore, we identified 1–2 optimal locations where new services would maximise accessibility. We utilised open data and publicly available big data. Cali is one of South America's cities most impacted by traffic congestion.Methodology: Using a people-centred approach, we tested a web-based digital platform developed through an iterative participatory design. The platform integrates open data, including the location of radiotherapy services, the disaggregated sociodemographic microdata for the population and places of residence, and big data for travel times from Google Distance Matrix API. We used genetic algorithms to identify optimal locations for new services. We predicted accessibility cumulative opportunities (ACO) for traffic ranging from peak congestion to free-flow conditions with hourly assessments for 6–12 July 2020 and 23–29 November 2020. The interactive digital platform is openly available.Primary and secondary outcomes: We present descriptive statistics and population distribution heatmaps based on 20-min accessibility cumulative opportunities (ACO) isochrones for car journeys. There is no set national or international standard for these travel time thresholds. Most key informants found the 20-min threshold reasonable. These isochrones connect the population-weighted centroid of the traffic analysis zone at the place of residence to the corresponding zone of the radiotherapy service with the shortest travel time under varying traffic conditions ranging from free-flow to peak-traffic congestion levels. Additionally, we conducted a time-series bivariate analysis to assess geographical accessibility based on economic stratum. We identify 1–2 optimal locations where new services would maximize the 20-min ACO during peak-traffic congestion.Results: Traffic congestion significantly diminished accessibility to radiotherapy services, particularly affecting vulnerable populations. For instance, urban 20-min ACO by car dropped from 91% of Cali’s urban population within a 20-min journey to the service during free-flow traffic to 31% during peak traffic for the week of 6–12 July 2020. Percentages represent the population within a 20-min journey by car from their residence to a radiotherapy service. Specific ethnic groups, individuals with lower educational attainment, and residents on the outskirts of Cali experienced disproportionate effects, with accessibility decreasing to 11% during peak traffic compared to 81% during free-flow traffic for low-income households. We predict that strategically adding sufficient services in 1–2 locations in eastern Cali would notably enhance accessibility and reduce inequities. The recommended locations for new services remained consistent in both of our measurements.These findings underscore the significance of prioritising equity and comprehensive care in healthcare accessibility. They also offer a practical approach to optimising service locations to mitigate disparities. Expanding this approach to encompass other transportation modes, services, and cities, or updating measurements, is feasible and affordable. The new approach and data are particularly relevant for planning authorities and urban development actors.

show abstract

The many “costs” of transportation: Examining what cancer caregivers experience as transportation obstacles

Cited by 5 publications

References 21 publications

Cancer caregivers are primarily motivated by love and sense of duty

Cancer caregivers are primarily motivated by love and sense of duty

Out-of-Pocket Cost Modeling of Adjuvant Radiation Therapy Duration in Standard-of-Care Early Stage Breast Cancer Treatment Across Medicaid and Medicare Plans

Improving accessibility to radiotherapy services in Cali, Colombia: cross-sectional equity analyses using open data and big data travel times from 2020

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About