Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-1061, USA.
Psychooncology. 2010 Oct;19(10):1069-77. doi: 10.1002/pon.1661.
Hispanics are the largest and fastest growing ethnic minority group in the United States and breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Hispanic women. However, Hispanics are underrepresented in the psychosocial breast cancer literature.
This study included 677 low-income women (425 Hispanic, 252 non-Hispanic White) enrolled in the Medi-Cal Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Program. Data were gathered through phone interviews conducted in English or Spanish 6 and 18 months following breast cancer diagnosis. We focus on three variables that the literature indicates are salient for breast cancer survivors: sexual function, body image and depression.
Results of an ANCOVA indicated worse sexual function for Hispanic women, even after controlling for significant covariates. Hispanics reported significantly less sexual desire, greater difficulty relaxing and enjoying sex, and greater difficulty becoming sexually aroused and having orgasms than non-Hispanic White women. Both Hispanic and non-Hispanic White women endorsed a lack of sexual desire more frequently than problems with sexual function. Body image did not differ between Hispanic and non-Hispanic White women. In all, 38% of Hispanic and 48% of non-Hispanic White women scored above cut-off scores for depressive symptoms. While there was no ethnic difference in depressive symptoms, single women reported more depressive symptoms than partnered women.
Findings suggest that low-income breast cancer survivors may experience symptoms of depression more than a year following diagnosis, and that sexual dysfunction may be particularly salient for low-income Hispanic women.
西班牙裔是美国最大和增长最快的少数民族群体，乳腺癌是西班牙裔女性中最常见的诊断癌症。然而，西班牙裔在心理社会乳腺癌文献中代表性不足。
本研究纳入了 677 名低收入女性（425 名西班牙裔，252 名非西班牙裔白人），这些女性均参加了 Medi-Cal 乳腺癌和宫颈癌治疗计划。数据通过在乳腺癌诊断后 6 个月和 18 个月进行的英语或西班牙语电话访谈收集。我们重点关注文献表明对乳腺癌幸存者重要的三个变量：性功能、身体形象和抑郁。
ANCOVA 的结果表明，即使控制了重要的协变量，西班牙裔女性的性功能也更差。与非西班牙裔白人女性相比，西班牙裔女性报告的性欲较低、放松和享受性爱的难度较大、性唤起和达到性高潮的难度较大。西班牙裔和非西班牙裔白人女性都更频繁地表示缺乏性欲，而不是性功能问题。身体形象在西班牙裔和非西班牙裔白人女性之间没有差异。在所有女性中，38%的西班牙裔和 48%的非西班牙裔白人女性的抑郁症状得分高于临界值。尽管在抑郁症状方面没有种族差异，但单身女性比有伴侣的女性报告的抑郁症状更多。
研究结果表明，低收入乳腺癌幸存者在诊断后一年可能会经历更多的抑郁症状，而且性功能障碍可能对低收入西班牙裔女性尤为突出。
