Unmet supportive care needs in Hispanic/Latino cancer survivors: prevalence and associations with patient-provider communication, satisfaction with cancer care, and symptom burden

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to elucidate the prevalence of unmet supportive care needs in Hispanic/Latino cancer survivors and examine the association between unmet needs and patient-provider communication, satisfaction with cancer care, and cancer-specific symptom burden.

Methods

Hispanics/Latinos diagnosed with breast, prostate, or colorectal cancer within 15 months of treatment completion (n = 288) completed questionnaires as part of an NCI-funded project.

Results

Hispanic/Latino cancer survivors reported greater unmet needs compared to previously published norms in primarily non-Hispanic/Latino white samples. Across the three cancer types, the two most common unmet needs were in the psychological domain: fear of metastasis (32.6%) and concern for close others (31.3%). However, unmet needs varied by cancer type. Factors associated with greater unmet needs included more recent cancer diagnosis (OR .98 [.96–.99]), younger age (OR .96–.97 [.93–.99]), female gender (OR 2.53–3.75 [1.53–7.36]), and being single (OR 1.82 [1.11–2.97]). Breast cancer survivors reported greater unmet needs than both prostate and colorectal cancer survivors (OR 2.33–5.86 [1.27–14.01]). Adjusting for sociodemographic and medical covariates, unmet needs were associated with lower patient-provider communication self-efficacy (B = − .18–− .22, p's < .01) and satisfaction with cancer care (B = − 3.57–− 3.81, p's < .05), and greater breast (B = − 4.18–− 8.30, p's < .01) and prostate (B = − 6.01–− 8.13, p's < .01) cancer-specific symptom burden.

Conclusions

Findings document unmet supportive care needs in Hispanic/Latino cancer survivors and suggest that reducing unmet needs in Hispanic/Latino cancer survivors may improve not only satisfaction with care, but also health-related quality of life.

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