School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, 649 SPHPI MC923, Chicago, IL, USA.
Department of Population Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
Support Care Cancer. 2021 Oct;29(10):5915-5925. doi: 10.1007/s00520-021-06169-x. Epub 2021 Mar 24.
Multilevel barriers can arise after a cancer diagnosis, especially in underserved racial/ethnic minority patient populations, raising the need for diverse and contextually adapted interventions. However, limited data exists on Arab American (ArA) cancer patients' needs, partly due to their racial/ethnic misclassification as Whites. This study leveraged the perspectives of cancer survivors and community stakeholders (i.e., healthcare and community leaders) to identify ArA cancer patients' needs, as well as their preferred intervention strategies to address them.
Using a hybrid inductive-deductive content analysis approach, we analyzed qualitative data from interviews with 18 ArA community stakeholders recruited through community partners in Chicago.
Participants associated cancer stigma to ArA patients' concealment of their diagnosis and aversion to cancer support groups. Economic and language barriers to treatment were emphasized. A lack of resources for ArA cancer patients was also noted and was partly attributed to their misclassification as White. In response to these needs, participants suggested peer mentorship programs to overcome privacy concerns, hospital-based patient navigation to address language and economic barriers in healthcare, diversification of the healthcare workforce to overcome language barriers, and community coalitions to recognize ArA as an ethnic group and increase cancer support resources. Such advocacy will be essential to accurately characterize patients' cancer burden and obtain funding to support community programs and resources.
Our findings suggest that multilevel interventions at the patient, healthcare, and community levels are needed to address ArA cancer patients' needs.
癌症诊断后会出现多层次的障碍，尤其是在服务不足的种族/少数民族患者群体中，这就需要多样化和适应具体情况的干预措施。然而，由于阿拉伯裔美国人（ArA）被错误地归类为白人，因此关于他们癌症患者的需求的数据有限。本研究利用癌症幸存者和社区利益相关者（即医疗保健和社区领袖）的观点来确定 ArA 癌症患者的需求，以及他们首选的干预策略来解决这些需求。
使用混合归纳演绎的内容分析方法，我们分析了通过芝加哥社区合作伙伴招募的 18 名 ArA 社区利益相关者的访谈中获取的定性数据。
参与者将癌症污名与 ArA 患者隐瞒诊断和回避癌症支持小组联系起来。他们强调了治疗方面的经济和语言障碍。还指出了 ArA 癌症患者缺乏资源，部分原因是他们被错误地归类为白人。针对这些需求，参与者建议开展同行指导计划以克服隐私问题，开展基于医院的患者导航以解决医疗保健中的语言和经济障碍，多样化医疗保健劳动力以克服语言障碍，以及建立社区联盟以承认 ArA 是一个族裔群体并增加癌症支持资源。这种倡导对于准确描述患者的癌症负担以及获得支持社区计划和资源的资金至关重要。
我们的研究结果表明，需要在患者、医疗保健和社区层面开展多层次的干预措施，以满足 ArA 癌症患者的需求。
