Paper
Sunday, November 4, 2007
246
Blending Voices of Mexican-American Cancer Caregivers and Healthcare Providers to Improve Care
Carolyn Spence Cagle, PhD, RNC1, Elizabeth Wolff1, David Jenkins, PhD, LCSW2, and Mary Luna Hollen, PhD, RD, LD3. (1) Nursing, TCU - Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Fort Worth, TX, USA, (2) Social Work, TCU - Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Fort Worth, TX, USA, (3) Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences/Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Ob-GYN, UNTHSC - School of Public Health, Fort Worth, TX, USA
| Learning Objective #1: state the value of using focus groups as a community-based research model for understanding cancer as a sociopolitical issue for Mexican Americans. |
| Learning Objective #2: cite three benefits of transdisciplinary research to improve an understanding of the influence of cancer on Mexican American family lives. |
An earlier grounded theory study provided insight into the influence of culture on Mexican American (MA) females “becoming stronger” through cancer caregiving. This study also indicated caregiver desire to learn more about cancer, ways to provide patient care, and strategies for talking to the doctor and ill one about cancer. This knowledge must be blended with that of health care providers to support evidence-based practice meeting MA caregiver and family needs. A focus group approach, utilizing diverse health care staff in the clinic used by MA caregivers, provided a sociopolitical context to interpret caregiver response to cancer and learning/support needs, the purpose of the study. Interdisciplinary research team content analysis of focus group data from 12 health care providers identified various themes. Themes included MA families fear patient death or embarrassment related to the diagnosis; too few social services, interpreters, and readable learning materials exist to meet MA family complex needs with cancer; and, at times, MA family networks influence clinic health care providers’ ability to provide needed information. These factors may block MA caregiver understanding of cancer and learning needs related to medications, pain, and nutrition as identified in the earlier study. Strong cultural values of “believing the doctor” and to “not tell the patient the diagnosis to maintain hope” also influence caregiver ability to openly communicate with doctor and patient. Study implications include health care system partnering with Spanish-speaking community health workers to understand the cultural meaning of cancer that influences caregiver learning needs and relevant strategies, including use of acceptable social services, to meet those needs. Overall, blending voices of MA cancer caregivers and health care providers to improve the structure and process of care can lead to beneficial outcomes for both groups.
Funded Beta Alpha Chapter, Sigma Theta Tau