Improving breast cancer survivors' knowledge using a patient-centered intervention

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.

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.

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.

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.