Evaluating the Impact of Social and Built Environments on Health-Related Quality of Life among Cancer Survivors

BACKGROUND

With almost 17 million U.S. cancer survivors, understanding multilevel factors impacting health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is critical to improving survivorship outcomes. Few studies have evaluated neighborhood impact on HRQOL among cancer survivors.

METHODS

We combined sociodemographic, clinical, and behavioral data from three registry-based studies in California. Using a three-level mixed linear regression model (participants nested within block groups and study/regions), we examined associations of both independent neighborhood attributes and neighborhood archetypes, which capture interactions inherent among neighborhood attributes, with two HRQOL outcomes, physical (PCS) and mental (MCS) composite scores.

RESULTS

For the 2,477 survivors, 46% were 70+ years, 52% were non-Hispanic White, and 53% had localized disease. In models minimally adjusted for age, stage, and cancer recurrence, HRQOL was associated with neighborhood socioeconomic status (nSES), racial/ethnic composition, population density, street connectivity, restaurant environment index, traffic density, urbanicity, crowding, rental properties, and non-single family units. In fully adjusted models, higher nSES remained associated with better PCS, and restaurant environment index, specifically more unhealthy restaurants, associated with worse MCS. In multivariable-adjusted models of neighborhood archetype, compared with upper middle-class suburb, Hispanic small town and inner city had lower PCS, and high status had higher MCS.

CONCLUSIONS

Among survivors, higher nSES was associated with better HRQOL; more unhealthy restaurants were associated with worse HQROL. As some neighborhood archetypes were associated with HRQOL, they provide an approach to capture how neighborhood attributes interact to impact HRQOL.

IMPACT

Elucidating the pathways through which neighborhood attributes influence HRQOL is important in improving survivorship outcomes.

Abstract B039: The impact of social and built environments on quality of life among cancer survivors

Background: With over 16 million cancer survivors in the U.S., understanding factors that improve health-related quality of life (HRQOL) after cancer diagnosis is critical. Previous studies have identified demographic, clinical and behavioral factors that shape HRQOL among cancer patients and have observed poorer HRQOL among racial/ethnic minorities, individuals of low socioeconomic status (SES), or those with comorbidities. Few studies have considered the influence of neighborhood factors (census block group SES (nSES), census tract poverty, county segregation) on HRQOL. Thus, we proposed to assess racial/ethnic disparities in HRQOL and evaluate the extent to which these disparities are explained by neighborhood factors.

Methods: We pooled data on 2,500 diverse (i.e., multiethnic, varied SES, multiple cancer sites) cancer survivors from three population-based cancer survivorship studies in California and linked them to the California Neighborhoods Data System. Separately for the two continuous HRQOL outcomes (physical and mental composite scores, PCS and MCS, from SF36), using a 3-level model with participants nested within block groups, which are nested within study/region, we calculated least squares means and parameter estimates for each racial/ethnic group, with and without adjustment for covariates. Predisposing factors included age, gender, education, employment, income, health insurance status, marital status and significant clinical and tumor characteristics. Health behaviors included physical activity and body mass index.

Results: Among 2,477 cancer survivors, we observed racial/ethnic disparities in HRQOL, with African Americans reporting the lowest (worst) PCS (42.7), Latinos reporting the lowest MCS (48.4) and Asians/Pacific Islanders reporting the highest scores (PCS: 45.4; MCS: 51.1) in unadjusted models. In models adjusted for age and cancer recurrence (and stage for PCS), both PCS and MCS increased with higher nSES. Assessed separately, the following neighborhood factors were associated with decreased MCS after adjusting for nSES: higher population density, street connectivity (gamma), % renting, % non-single-family units, more parks, and restaurant index (more unhealthy). No other neighborhood factor was associated with PCS after adjusting for nSES. Compared to non-Hispanic (NH) Whites, African American disparities in PCS were fully attenuated after adjusting for nSES. Similarly adjusting for neighborhood factors fully attenuated Hispanic disparities in MCS. For PCS, adjusting for predisposing, nSES, and/or behavioral factors resulted in Hispanics having better HRQOL compared to NH Whites.

Conclusions: Among a diverse cohort of cancer survivors, neighborhood attributes were associated with HRQOL. Racial/ethnic disparities in HRQOL were attenuated with inclusion of neighborhood factors in the models. Elucidating the pathways through which these neighborhood attributes impact HRQOL will be important to improving survivorship outcomes.

Citation Format: Salma Shariff-Marco, Alison J. Canchola, Theresa H.M. Keegan, Alyssa Nickell, Ingrid Oakley-Girvan, Ann S. Hamilton, Scarlett L. Gomez. The impact of social and built environments on quality of life among cancer survivors [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eleventh AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2018 Nov 2-5; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(6 Suppl):Abstract nr B039.

Engaging limited English proficient and ethnically diverse low-income women in health research: A randomized trial of a patient navigator intervention

OBJECTIVE

Evaluate a community-based navigator intervention to increase breast cancer patients' and survivors' access to information about health research participation opportunities.

METHODS

In the context of a Community Based Participatory Research collaboration, we conducted a prospective randomized controlled trial of the Health Research Engagement Intervention with pre- and post-intervention surveys (n = 133). The primary outcome was health research information-seeking behavior. Secondary outcomes were health research knowledge, willingness to participate in health research, and health empowerment. Qualitative interviews (n = 11) elucidated participant perspectives on the intervention.

RESULTS

There was no statistically significant difference between intervention and control groups' information-seeking behavior. Knowledge that not all health research studies are about drugs or treatments increased significantly from pre- to post-test among intervention group participants (32% to 48%, p = 0.012), but not in the control group (43% to 30%, p = 0.059); the difference between arms was statistically significant (p = 0.0012). Although survey responses indicated willingness to participate, qualitative interviews identified competing priorities that limited participants' motivation to seek enrollment information.

CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Community-based navigators are a trusted, and therefore promising link between health research and low-income underserved communities. However, systemic barriers in health research infrastructures need to be addressed to include low income, LEP and immigrant populations.

Abstract P4-10-05: Engaging linguistically and ethnically diverse low income women in health research: A randomized controlled trial

Background: Underserved breast cancer survivors are typically offered fewer opportunities to participate in cancer research. To address this disparity, a community based navigator program, Shanti's Margot Murphy Breast Cancer Program (Shanti) initiated a collaboration with UCSF researchers and BreastCancerTrials.org (BCT), a nonprofit clinical trials matching service to explore the potential role of a trusted community-based organization as a source of culturally appropriate education and access to clinical trial information. Through formative research, we developed the Health Research Engagement Intervention (HREI), a one-on-one navigator-client education session emphasizing the range of treatment and non-treatment quality-of-life and observational studies, conducted at a time when the participant is not in the initial crisis of diagnosis. The HREI ends by providing participants with an information card listing BCT and other organizations that provide information about health research for breast cancer patients and survivors.

Methods: We tested the HREI in a randomized controlled trial, comparing the HREI to simply providing the information card. Pre and post intervention surveys one month apart measured our primary outcome of health research information-seeking behavior. Secondary outcomes include health research knowledge, attitudes towards research participation, and health empowerment. All Shanti clients who spoke English, Cantonese or Spanish and had “low care navigation needs” (either completed treatment or no longer in the crisis of initial diagnosis and/or burdened by treatment protocols) were eligible.

Results: We recruited 133 Shanti Clients, including 59 who spoke English, 48 Cantonese, and 26 Spanish; 66 were randomized to the intervention arm and 67 to the control arm, and 130 completed both pre- and post-test surveys. Almost one-third of participants in both the intervention and control arms reported having talked to someone about health research or having called a telephone number or visited a website listed on the card (30% vs. 30%, p=0.94); a smaller proportion of participants confirmed that their information-seeking was related to the content of the educational materials (17% vs. 9%, p=0.22). On average the change from pre- to post-test in a 5-item knowledge score, adjusted for pre-test knowledge, was greater in the intervention group than in the control group (p=0.028), but the proportion of participants who were very confident that they could find health research information (had health empowerment) remained essentially unchanged in both study arms (intervention: 20% post vs. 21% pre, p=0.76; control: 25% post vs. 25% pre, p=1.00). Women were more likely to seek information if they had higher pre-test knowledge scores (odds ratio [OR]=3.5 per item, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.5-8.4) or a greater increase in knowledge from pre- to post-test (OR=2.2 per item, 95% CI 1.1-4.7); there was no association between information-seeking and health empowerment (OR=0.6, 95% CI 0.2-2.5) or study arm (OR=1.6, 95% CI 0.5-4.9).

Conclusion: The HREI had a positive impact on knowledge of health research but did not significantly affect health empowerment or health research information-seeking behavior.

Citation Format: Joseph G, Nickell A, Cohen E, Burke NJ, Colen S, Lawlor K, Guerra C, Stewart SL. Engaging linguistically and ethnically diverse low income women in health research: A randomized controlled trial [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2017 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-10-05.

Abstract A33: Engaging Linguistically and Ethnically Diverse Low Income Women in Health Research

Underserved breast cancer patients and survivors are typically offered fewer opportunities to participate in cancer research. To address this disparity, a community based navigator program, Shanti's Margot Murphy Breast Cancer Program (Shanti) initiated a collaboration with UCSF researchers and BreastCancerTrials.org (BCT), a nonprofit clinical trials matching service to explore the potential role of a trusted community-based organization as a source of culturally appropriate education and access to clinical trial information. The pilot study identified guiding principles for development of our Health Research Engagement Intervention (HREI): a) within the context of a trusted relationship, navigators provide education about health research and increase access to information about ongoing breast cancer studies, emphasizing the range of treatment and non-treatment quality-of-life and observational studies; b) provide education and information at a time when the patient is not in the initial crisis of diagnosis; and c) address systems barriers to health research information and participation.

This mixed method study includes: 1) capacity-building for the CBO partner (Shanti) and the health research access point (BCT) to reduce system barriers and to conduct evaluations of enhancements to both; 2) a prospective randomized controlled trial (RCT) of the HREI with pre and post surveys; and 3) qualitative evaluation of the trial implementation. The trial's primary outcome is health research information-seeking behavior. Secondary outcomes include health research knowledge, attitudes towards research participation, and health empowerment.

To enhance capacity and address system barriers, we added a multilingual (English, Cantonese, Spanish) voicemail system to BCT's helpline, trained staff to use professional healthcare interpreters and enhanced the design of the BCT website for easier navigation by lower health literacy patients. At Shanti, we trained care navigators on health research and the HREI and implemented a Client Tracking Calendar to improve identification of and projections for eligible clients. All Shanti clients who speak English, Cantonese or Spanish and have “low care navigation needs” are eligible (i.e. client may or may not still be undergoing treatment but is no longer in the crisis of initial diagnosis or burdened by treatment protocols). Eighty-six of 150 RCT participants have been enrolled to date and 74 have completed the trial. Interim analyses indicate that participants in the intervention group were more likely than those in the control group to seek health research information.

Through sustainable and synergistic capacity building enhancements to two breast cancer organizations, this study is working to increase equity in access to health research information and research participation opportunities for diverse underserved breast cancer patients and survivors. The HREI, if proven effective after completion of the trial, has the long-range potential to reduce disparities in access to health research information and participation opportunities, and thereby to impact progress of breast cancer research. Furthermore, the HREI is a dissemination-ready navigator protocol with the potential for replication in underserved communities nationally.

Note: This abstract was not presented at the conference.

Citation Format: Alyssa Nickell, Elly Cohen, Susan Stewart, Janice Ka Yan Cheng, Katie Lawlor, Susan Colen, Nancy Burke, Claudia Guerra, Galen Joseph. Engaging Linguistically and Ethnically Diverse Low Income Women in Health Research. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Ninth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2016 Sep 25-28; Fort Lauderdale, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2017;26(2 Suppl):Abstract nr A33.

Educating low-SES and LEP survivors about breast cancer research: pilot test of the Health Research Engagement Intervention

The Health Research Engagement Intervention (HREI) aims to reduce information and access disparities for breast cancer research opportunities among low-socioeconomic status (SES) and limited English proficient (LEP) breast cancer survivors by providing neutral, non-trial-specific information about health research via a trusted patient navigator. Qualitative methods in the context of a community-based participatory research design were used to iteratively design the HREI in collaboration with community-based care navigators from a trusted community organization, Shanti Project, and to locate appropriate research studies in collaboration with a web-based trial-matching service, BreastCancerTrials.org (BCT). Navigators were first trained in clinical trials and health research and then to deliver the HREI, providing feedback that was incorporated into both the HREI design and BCT's interface. Our intervention pilot with low SES and LEP survivors (n = 12) demonstrated interest in learning about "health research." All 12 participants opted to obtain more information when offered the opportunity. Post-intervention questionnaires showed that three of 11 (27 %) participants independently pursued additional information about research opportunities either online or by phone in the week following the intervention. Post-intervention navigator questionnaires indicated that navigators could confidently and efficiently deliver the intervention. LEP patients who pursued information independently faced language barriers. The HREI is a promising and potentially scalable intervention to increase access to neutral information about breast cancer research opportunities for low-SES and LEP individuals. However, in order for it to be effective, systems barriers to participation such as language accessibility at sources of health research information must be addressed.