Impact of Institutional - and Individual - Level Discrimination on Medical Care & Quality of Life among Breast Cancer Survivors

Abstract

This study used mixed-methods to develop a survey to measure discrimination among a diverse sample of breast cancer survivors, and to measure the prevalence of discrimination and association with breast cancer outcomes, including stage at diagnosis, treatment, and quality of life. Through the qualitative component of the study, we have gleaned invaluable perspectives regarding the subtle but important aspects of discrimination and its potential impacts on breast cancer outcomes. We encountered challenges with regards to recruitment, but did complete epidemiologic interviews with 523 respondents, with balanced representation across our target racial/ethnic groups (non-Hispanic Whites, African Americans, Hispanics, Chinese, Filipinos). Our results showed that interpersonal and institutional discrimination varied across racial/ethnic groups and were associated with most of the outcomes of interest; these results warrant further evaluation with more focused data analyses and in larger study populations. Our results also inform future research efforts on survey development.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 2012
Accession Number
ADA581259

Entities

People

  • Scarlett L. Gomez

Organizations

  • Cancer Prevention Institute of California

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • African Americans
  • Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena
  • Data Analysis
  • Employment
  • Ethnic Groups
  • Health Services
  • Lung Diseases
  • Medical Personnel
  • Minority Groups
  • Personnel Management
  • Public Health
  • Quality Of Life
  • Social Psychology
  • Sociology
  • Therapy
  • Vascular Diseases

Readers

  • Organizational Psychology.
  • Women's Health and Cancer Risk Research: African American Women and Pregnancy Outcomes.