Differences in Emotional Distress Among Black and White Breast Cancer Survivors During the Covid-19 Pandemic: a National Survey

The Covid-19 pandemic is straining US healthcare resources, causing significant disruptions in cancer care. Prior to the pandemic, Black cancer survivors experienced a disproportionate burden of delays in cancer treatment compared to White cancer survivors. As a result of the pandemic, disruptions i...

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Autores principales: Hamlish, Tamara, Papautsky, Elizabeth Lerner
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer International Publishing 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7901509/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33620715
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40615-021-00990-0
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author Hamlish, Tamara
Papautsky, Elizabeth Lerner
author_facet Hamlish, Tamara
Papautsky, Elizabeth Lerner
author_sort Hamlish, Tamara
collection PubMed
description The Covid-19 pandemic is straining US healthcare resources, causing significant disruptions in cancer care. Prior to the pandemic, Black cancer survivors experienced a disproportionate burden of delays in cancer treatment compared to White cancer survivors. As a result of the pandemic, disruptions in care are widespread and affect cancer survivors regardless of race. This shift presented an opportunity to investigate differences in how Black and White cancer survivors experience disruptions in cancer care due to the pandemic. We conducted a national survey of adult breast cancer survivors, distributed online from 4/2/20 to 4/27/20. We used t-tests to compare cancer and non-cancer-related worry during the Covid-19 pandemic between Black and White breast cancer survivors. Analysis of data from 570 respondents (106 Black and 464 White) indicated significantly higher levels of distress among White respondents compared to Black respondents. Our results point to the importance of assessing race differences in emotional response to disruptions in cancer care during the pandemic. We suggest that differences in emotional distress may reflect differences in previous experience of treatment delays and coping strategies between Black and White breast cancer survivors.
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spelling pubmed-79015092021-02-24 Differences in Emotional Distress Among Black and White Breast Cancer Survivors During the Covid-19 Pandemic: a National Survey Hamlish, Tamara Papautsky, Elizabeth Lerner J Racial Ethn Health Disparities Article The Covid-19 pandemic is straining US healthcare resources, causing significant disruptions in cancer care. Prior to the pandemic, Black cancer survivors experienced a disproportionate burden of delays in cancer treatment compared to White cancer survivors. As a result of the pandemic, disruptions in care are widespread and affect cancer survivors regardless of race. This shift presented an opportunity to investigate differences in how Black and White cancer survivors experience disruptions in cancer care due to the pandemic. We conducted a national survey of adult breast cancer survivors, distributed online from 4/2/20 to 4/27/20. We used t-tests to compare cancer and non-cancer-related worry during the Covid-19 pandemic between Black and White breast cancer survivors. Analysis of data from 570 respondents (106 Black and 464 White) indicated significantly higher levels of distress among White respondents compared to Black respondents. Our results point to the importance of assessing race differences in emotional response to disruptions in cancer care during the pandemic. We suggest that differences in emotional distress may reflect differences in previous experience of treatment delays and coping strategies between Black and White breast cancer survivors. Springer International Publishing 2021-02-23 2022 /pmc/articles/PMC7901509/ /pubmed/33620715 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40615-021-00990-0 Text en © W. Montague Cobb-NMA Health Institute 2021 This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.
spellingShingle Article
Hamlish, Tamara
Papautsky, Elizabeth Lerner
Differences in Emotional Distress Among Black and White Breast Cancer Survivors During the Covid-19 Pandemic: a National Survey
title Differences in Emotional Distress Among Black and White Breast Cancer Survivors During the Covid-19 Pandemic: a National Survey
title_full Differences in Emotional Distress Among Black and White Breast Cancer Survivors During the Covid-19 Pandemic: a National Survey
title_fullStr Differences in Emotional Distress Among Black and White Breast Cancer Survivors During the Covid-19 Pandemic: a National Survey
title_full_unstemmed Differences in Emotional Distress Among Black and White Breast Cancer Survivors During the Covid-19 Pandemic: a National Survey
title_short Differences in Emotional Distress Among Black and White Breast Cancer Survivors During the Covid-19 Pandemic: a National Survey
title_sort differences in emotional distress among black and white breast cancer survivors during the covid-19 pandemic: a national survey
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7901509/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33620715
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40615-021-00990-0
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