Use of cancer support groups among Latina breast cancer survivors

Introduction Although Latina women diagnosed with breast cancer may be at greater risk of psychosocial morbidity compared to white women, few utilize support services such as support groups. Reasons for this under-use among Latinas are unknown. Methods A cross-sectional telephone survey examined the association of predisposing, enabling, and need factors with use of cancer support groups among 330 Latina breast cancer survivors recruited from a population-based tumor registry in counties with Spanish language support groups. Results Thirty-two percent had ever used a support group. Among the 225 (68%) women who had never used one, major reasons for not using a support group included receiving enough support from other sources (20%), not needing one (18%), and being unaware of groups in their local area (17%). Women receiving quite a bit or a lot of encouragement from family members to attend a cancer support group were seven times more likely to have ever attended one than women receiving little or no encouragement (OR = 7.04, 95% CI 3.72, 13.30). Spiritual well-being was inversely associated with ever having attended a support group (OR = 0.93, 95% CI 0.89, 0.98). Discussion Results suggest that families play an important role in promoting use of support groups among Latina breast cancer survivors, and that spirituality may offer an alternative source of support. Implications for Cancer Survivors More effort should be directed toward providing culturally and linguistically appropriate support services to breast cancer survivors, and increasing awareness of these services among oncologists, patients and family members.