Unmet support needs of sexual and gender minority breast cancer survivors.

Support Care Cancer

Family and Community Medicine Department, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.

Published: April 2018

Purpose: This study explored sources of stress and support experienced by sexual and gender minority (SGM) breast cancer survivors and the impact of treatment on their lives.

Methods: SGM breast cancer survivors were identified through purposive and referral sampling and invited to participate in a web-based survey containing both closed- and open-ended items. Sixty-eight SGM breast cancer survivors aged 18-75 years completed the survey between May 2015 and January 2016.

Results: Bivariate analyses of quantitative data reveal that queer-identified (in either sexual orientation or gender identity (SOGI)) SGM survivors are more likely to report having bilateral mastectomy without reconstruction and to think that disclosing SOGI to providers affected their care. Queer-identified SGM survivors are also more likely to use LGBT-specific support groups and to report that their current level of social support is below average. Thematic analysis of qualitative comments revealed themes related to self-disclosure of SOGI to providers, need for recognition and support of partners, need for appropriate social supports for patients and partners, and impact of breast cancer treatment on intimate relationships.

Conclusion: This study provides quantitative and qualitative evidence that many SGM breast cancer patients face a dearth of appropriate social supports, both from breast cancer survivor organizations and from within the medical system. These findings confirm the need for research on the physical and emotional effects of breast cancer treatment on SGM breast cancer survivors, as well as further exploration of the social support needs and experiences of SGM breast cancer patients and their partners.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00520-017-3941-zDOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

breast cancer
40
sgm breast
24
cancer survivors
20
breast
10
cancer
10
sexual gender
8
gender minority
8
sgm
8
sgm survivors
8
sogi providers
8

Similar Publications

Background: Thyroid Hormones (THs) critically impact human cancer. Although endowed with both tumor-promoting and inhibiting effects in different cancer types, excess of THs has been linked to enhanced tumor growth and progression. Breast cancer depends on the interaction between bulk tumor cells and the surrounding microenvironment in which mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) exert powerful pro-tumorigenic activities.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The Role of NF-κB/MIR155HG in Regulating the Stemness and Radioresistance in Breast Cancer Stem Cells.

Front Biosci (Landmark Ed)

January 2025

Department of Chemoradiotherapy, Ningbo No 2 Hospital, 315000 Ningbo, Zhejiang, China.

Background: Breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) are instrumental in treatment resistance, recurrence, and metastasis. The development of breast cancer and radiation sensitivity is intimately pertinent to long non-coding RNA (lncRNA). This work is formulated to investigate how the lncRNA affects the stemness and radioresistance of BCSCs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Update on the Progress of Musashi-2 in Malignant Tumors.

Front Biosci (Landmark Ed)

January 2025

Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Shanxi Academy of Medical Sciences, Tongji Shanxi Hospital, Third Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, 030032 Taiyuan, Shanxi, China.

Since the discovery of the Musashi (MSI) protein, its ability to affect the mitosis of Drosophila progenitor cells has garnered significant interest among scientists. In the following 20 years, it has lived up to expectations. A substantial body of evidence has demonstrated that it is closely related to the development, metastasis, migration, and drug resistance of malignant tumors.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Tryptophan catabolism is a central pathway in many cancers, serving to sustain an immunosuppressive microenvironment. The key enzymes involved in this tryptophan metabolism such as indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) and tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase (TDO) are reported as promising novel targets in cancer immunotherapy. IDO1 and TDO overexpression in TNBC cells promote resistance to cell death, proliferation, invasion, and metastasis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Socio-economic inequalities in second primary cancer incidence: A competing risks analysis of women with breast cancer in England between 2000 and 2018.

Int J Cancer

January 2025

Inequalities in Cancer Outcomes Network (ICON) group, Department of Health Services Research and Policy, Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.

We aimed to investigate socio-economic inequalities in second primary cancer (SPC) incidence among breast cancer survivors. Using Data from cancer registries in England, we included all women diagnosed with a first primary breast cancer (PBC) between 2000 and 2018 and aged between 18 and 99 years and followed them up from 6 months after the PBC diagnosis until a SPC event, death, or right censoring, whichever came first. We used flexible parametric survival models adjusting for age and year of PBC diagnosis, ethnicity, PBC tumour stage, comorbidity, and PBC treatments to model the cause-specific hazards of SPC incidence and death according to income deprivation, and then estimated standardised cumulative incidences of SPC by deprivation, taking death as the competing event.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!