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Through the lens of culture: quality of life among Latina breast cancer survivors

Breast Cancer Research and Treatment volume 136, pages 603–613 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

Latinas have lower quality of life than Caucasian cancer survivors but we know little about factors associated with quality of life in this growing population. Bilingual staff conducted interviews with a national cross-sectional sample of 264 Latina breast cancer survivors. Quality of life was measured using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast (FACT-B). Regression models evaluated associations between culture, social and medical context and overall quality of life and its subdomains. Latina survivors were 1–5 years post-diagnosis and reported a lower mean quality of life score compared to other published reports of non-Latina survivors (M = 105; SD = 19.4 on the FACT-B). Culturally based feelings of breast cancer-related stigma and shame were consistently related to lower overall quality of life and lower well-being in each quality of life domain. Social and medical contextual factors were independently related to quality of life; together cultural, social and medical context factors uniquely accounted for 62 % of the explained model variance of overall quality of life (Adjusted R 2 = 0.53, P < 0.001). Similar relationships were seen for quality of life subdomains in which cultural, social, and medical contextual variables independently contributed to the overall variance of each final model: physical well-being (Adjusted R 2 = 0.23, P < .001), social well-being (Adjusted R 2 = 0.51, P < 0.001), emotional well-being (Adjusted R 2 = 0.28, P < 0.001), functional well-being (Adjusted R 2 = 0.41, P < 0.001), and additional breast concerns (Adjusted R 2 = 0.40, P < 0.001). Efforts to improve Latinas’ survivorship experiences should consider cultural, social, and medical contextual factors to close existing quality of life gaps between Latinas and other survivors.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Susan G. Komen for the Cure #POP0601292 and NIH Grants NCI#K07CA131172 (KDG), NCI#U01CA114593 and NCI#K05CA96940 (JM). We appreciate the time and openness of the Latina breast cancer survivors who participated in this study. We thank the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation’s Army of Women, Nueva Vida, Inc, Las Comadres, Breast Cancer Resource Centers of Texas, Sustainable Food Center (Austin, TX), Mercy Ministries, LatinaSHARE, and the numerous hospitals and community agencies for connecting us to Latina breast cancer survivors. Finally, we thank Susan Marx for her assistance with manuscript preparation.

Conflict of interest

Florencia Gonzalez, MPH and Larisa Caicedo, MA work for Nueva Vida, Inc. a non-profit agency that provides services to Latina breast cancer survivors. The authors declare that they have no other conflicts of interest.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Oncology, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University Medical Center, 3300 Whitehaven Street, NW, Suite 4100, Washington, DC, 20007, USA

    Kristi D. Graves, Roxanne E. Jensen, Janet Cañar, Monique Perret-Gentil, Kara-Grace Leventhal, Scott Kelly & Jeanne Mandelblatt

  2. Nueva Vida, Inc., 2000 K Street, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC, 20006, USA

    Florencia Gonzalez & Larisa Caicedo

  3. Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Box 1130, 1425 Madison Avenue, New York, NY, 10029, USA

    Lina Jandorf

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  1. Kristi D. Graves
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  2. Roxanne E. Jensen
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  3. Janet Cañar
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  5. Kara-Grace Leventhal
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  7. Larisa Caicedo
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  9. Scott Kelly
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  10. Jeanne Mandelblatt
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Correspondence to Kristi D. Graves.

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Graves, K.D., Jensen, R.E., Cañar, J. et al. Through the lens of culture: quality of life among Latina breast cancer survivors. Breast Cancer Res Treat 136, 603–613 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-012-2291-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-012-2291-2

Keywords

  • Breast cancer
  • Survivorship
  • Latinos
  • Quality of life