Background
Low-income, minority women with breast cancer experience a range of barriers to receiving
survivorship information. Our objective was to test a novel, patient-centered intervention
aimed at improving communication about survivorship care.
Methods
We developed a wallet card to provide oncologic and follow-up care survivorship information
to breast cancer patients. We used a prospective, pre–post design to assess the intervention
at a safety net hospital. The intervention was given by a patient navigator or community
health worker.
Results
Patient knowledge (n = 130) of personal cancer history improved from baseline pretest to 1 week after
the intervention for stage (66–93%; P < .05), treatment (79–92%; P < .05), and symptoms of recurrence (48–89%; P < .05), which was retained at 3 months. The intervention reduced the number of patients
who were unsure when their mammogram was due (15–5% at 1 week and 6% at 3 months;
P < .05). Nearly 90% reported they would be likely to share their survivorship card
with their providers.
Conclusion
A patient-centered survivorship card improved short-term recall of key survivorship
care knowledge and seems to be effective at reducing communication barriers for this
population. Further studies are warranted to assess long-term retention and the impact
on receipt of appropriate survivorship follow-up care.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 29, 2015
Accepted:
March 4,
2015
Footnotes
The authors declare no financial conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
Published by Elsevier Inc.
