Cultural and social barriers to hope in gastrointestinal cancer patients.

Background: Hope is correlated with quality of life and overall survivorship among patients with cancer. We aimed to identify sociodemographic and clinical determinants of hope among patients with gastrointestinal (GI) cancer.

Methods: Patients with GI cancer seen in radiation oncology between 10/2022 and 6/2023 were surveyed with the Adult Hope Scale (AHS) questionnaire, which assesses hope based on goal-setting and goal-striving beliefs. Linear regression and Pearson's/Spearman's correlation coefficients were used to evaluate associations between AHS scores and demographic or disease variables.

Results: One-hundred and forty-five (71.1% response rate) patients were included in the analysis. Most (75%) patients were symptomatic from disease, and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) patients accounted for 30.3% of our cohort. Identifying as AAPI or needing an interpreter for clinic visits was significantly associated with lower AHS scores, and more AAPI patients required interpreter assistance compared to non-AAPI patients (P=0.04). Being divorced, unemployed, or female was also linked to less hope. No other differences in hope were found.

Conclusions: Sociodemographic rather than prognostic clinical factors were predictive of hope among patients with GI cancer. Interventions to contextualize psychosocial risk factors have the potential to improve quality of life and oncologic outcomes.