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Breast and prostate cancer survivors’ experiences of patient-centered cancer follow-up care from primary care physicians and oncologists

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Abstract

Purpose

Patient-physician relationships impact health care seeking and preventive screening behaviors among patients. At the end of active treatment some cancer survivors report feeling disconnected from their care team. This study explores cancer survivors’ experiences of patient-centered cancer follow-up care provided by primary care physicians (PCP) and oncologists (ONC).

Methods

Three hundred five early stage, breast and prostate cancer survivors at least 2 years post treatment were surveyed from four community hospital oncology programs in New Jersey. Participants reported receipt of patient-centered care measured by care coordination, comprehensiveness of care, and personal relationship with PCPs and ONCs.

Results

PCPs received higher ratings for coordination of care and comprehensive care than ONCs from all survivors (P < 0.01). However, prostate and breast cancer survivors rated strengths of their personal bonds with the physicians differently. While prostate cancer survivors rated PCPs significantly higher for all items (P < 0.028), breast cancer survivors rated ONCs significantly higher on four out of seven items including having been through a lot together, understanding what is important regarding health, knowing their medical history and taking their beliefs and wishes into account (P < 0.036).

Conclusions

Prostate and breast cancer survivors report different experiences with their PCPs and oncologists around the comprehensiveness and coordination of their cancer follow-up care in addition to the strength of their relationships with their physicians.

Implications for Cancer Survivors

There are important differences in the experience of patient-centered care among cancer survivors that should be considered when planning care models and interventions for these different populations.

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Acknowledgments

Data collection for this study was funded by the National Cancer Institute grant R03 CA154063 and pilot funds from Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, P30 CA072720 awarded to Dr. Hudson. Additional support for this study was provided by the National Cancer Institute grants K01 CA131500 and R01 CA176838 awarded to Dr. Hudson. This research was conducted in conjunction with the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey’s Oncology Research Group. We give posthumous thanks to Ms. Karissa Hahn for her valuable feedback on previous versions of this paper.

Contributions of authors

All authors participated in conceptualization of the study and interpretation of study results. Drs. Hudson, Ohman-Strickland, Gundersen, Lee and Ms. Bator and O’Malley designed the study analyses. Ms. Bator analyzed the data. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript and decided to submit this work for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Shawna V. Hudson, Pamela A Ohman-Strickland, Alicja Bator, Denalee O’Malley, Daniel Gundersen, Heather S. Lee & Benjamin F. Crabtree

  2. Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Shawna V. Hudson, Pamela A Ohman-Strickland & Benjamin F. Crabtree

  3. Biometrics Division, Rutgers School of Public Health, Piscataway, NJ, USA

    Pamela A Ohman-Strickland

  4. Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Suzanne M. Miller

  5. Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 1 World’s Fair Drive, Suite 1500, Somerset, NJ, 08873, USA

    Shawna V. Hudson

Authors
  1. Shawna V. Hudson
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  2. Pamela A Ohman-Strickland
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  3. Alicja Bator
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  4. Denalee O’Malley
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  5. Daniel Gundersen
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  6. Heather S. Lee
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  7. Benjamin F. Crabtree
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  8. Suzanne M. Miller
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shawna V. Hudson.

Ethics declarations

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Rutgers University Biomedical and Health Sciences Institutional Review Board and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Hudson, S.V., Ohman-Strickland, P.A., Bator, A. et al. Breast and prostate cancer survivors’ experiences of patient-centered cancer follow-up care from primary care physicians and oncologists. J Cancer Surviv 10, 906–914 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-016-0537-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-016-0537-4

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