Associations between family communication and breast and cervical cancer health literacy among underserved racial/ethnic women in the kin keepersm prevention intervention

Latina and African American (herein called Black) women experience the highest disparities in mortality of cervical and breast cancer in spite of lower incidence than non-Hispanic White women. Preventive screening practices are shaped by numerous factors such as, family, socioeconomic status, and health literacy. The purpose of this study is to examine the associations of family communication, demographic factors, and breast and cervical cancer health literacy scores among Blacks (n=216), Latino (n=65), and Arab (n=233) women. Methods: Data on these 514 respondents were obtained in the first arm of a randomized controlled trial (RCT). Mean family communication scores (FACES) were cross-tabulated with age, education, literacy scores, and presence of grandmother in the family by race and ethnicity. Results: Respondent characteristics show that Black and Arab women are the more likely to have a college degree and more likely to rate their health as excellent than Latina respondents. Blacks had the lowest family communication scores (FACES) while Arabs had the highest family communication scores. Family communication scores were higher among those with lower educational attainment and lower among those respondents who rated their health status as poor. Only for Blacks were lower FACES score associated with lower cervical cancer literacy and presence of a grandmother. Conclusions: This study offers a unique contribution by exploring the relationship between family-centered communication scores and cancer literacy. The implications of these findings stress that for low-income diverse groups, family-centered networks may be an important resource for the transmission of health cancer literacy and decision-making.