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Social support and healthcare utilization of caregivers of Latinas with breast cancer

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Abstract

Background

Family caregivers experience significant health consequences related to caregiving, including higher mortality rates. Latino caregivers may have additional challenges related to social determinants of health. Gender and social support are key factors to consider in the context of chronic illnesses and healthcare use in caregivers of Latinos diagnosed with cancer.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating effect of gender and social support on the relationship between chronic illnesses and healthcare utilization in caregivers of Latina breast cancer survivors.

Methods

This was a secondary analysis of family caregivers from an experimental study with breast cancer survivors and their designated family caregivers. Participants completed telephone surveys about demographics, presence of chronic illnesses, frequency of emergency department, urgent care, and hospital visits, social support, and acculturation. Data were analyzed for direct and moderated relationships.

Results

There was a significant relationship between number of chronic illnesses and healthcare utilization, informational support, and social isolation. Income and acculturation were not related to chronic illnesses or healthcare utilization. Gender did not moderate the relationship between chronic illnesses and healthcare utilization. Informational support was a marginal moderator of the relationship between chronic illnesses and healthcare utilization alone and with acculturation and income included as covariates.

Conclusions

Clinicians should consider the influence of informational support and social isolation on chronic illnesses and healthcare use in caregivers of Latina breast cancer survivors, specifically, how these factors may influence navigation of the healthcare system.

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Data availability

The authors have full control of primary data. Study participants were assured data would remain confidential and would not be shared.

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Funding

This study was funded by the American Cancer Society (RSG-12-120-01-CPPB) (Badger, PI). Dr. Hebdon is supported by National Institute of Nursing Research (T32NR013456).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Nursing, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Megan Hebdon

  2. College of Nursing, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Terry A. Badger & Alice Pasvogel

  3. Department of Communication, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Chris Segrin

Authors
  1. Megan Hebdon
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  2. Terry A. Badger
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  3. Chris Segrin
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  4. Alice Pasvogel
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by all authors. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Megan Hebdon, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Megan Hebdon.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This study was approved by the University of Arizona Institutional Review Board.

Consent to participate

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

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Not applicable.

Code availability

Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS version 26 with the PROCESS module.

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Hebdon, M., Badger, T.A., Segrin, C. et al. Social support and healthcare utilization of caregivers of Latinas with breast cancer. Support Care Cancer 29, 4395–4404 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-020-05983-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-020-05983-z

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