A Comparison of Hispanic Patient and Family Perceived Barriers to Breast Cancer Treatment

Hispanic women are less likely than non-Hispanic white women to comply with breast cancer treatment recommendations. One way to improve compliance is to identify resources within the Hispanic culture to tailor culturally appropriate programming that improves follow-through with treatment. Because the family is an important part of the Hispanic culture, this study attempts to understand the nature of the familial relationship with respect to breast cancer treatment. More specifically, this study examines the concordance between patients' and primary support family members' perceived barriers to breast cancer treatment.

117 breast cancer patients and 83 family members were surveyed about their breast cancer treatment experiences. Patient and family respondents were compared using simple descriptive statistics. Additionally, OLS regression analysis was conducted to test the association between patients' and family members' perceived barriers to breast cancer treatment while controlling for other covariates.

Patients' responses closely resembled those of family members. OLS regression results revealed that concordance between patient and her primary support family member is moderated by level of education, such that breast cancer survivors with less than a high school diploma have higher levels of concordance with their family members than their peers with more education.

These data demonstrate the significant barriers to breast cancer care that Hispanic women and their family members identify, and suggest that involving family members in the treatment plan, particularly with Hispanic women with lower education levels, may be an effective strategy to improve compliance with breast cancer treatment.