A Qualitative Exploration of Patient Activation Among Hispanic Breast Cancer Patients

Patient Activation is a patient's knowledge, skill, and confidence for self-management of health- is positively correlated with medical regimen adherence and improved health outcomes. Understanding patient activation in Hispanic women diagnosed with breast cancer-conceptualized in the context of Latino cultural values of familism and respeto is essential to develop sustainable and culturally appropriate structural and individual interventions.

In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten Hispanic women who were recently diagnosed with breast cancer or undergoing treatment. Transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis, whereby open coding was applied to identify recurring patterns, which were subsequently organized into meaningful themes reflecting participants' lived experiences.

Family support emerged as a crucial factor for maintaining high treatment involvement, especially when family members served as surrogate information seekers and contributed to medical decisions. While family support encouraged adherence to treatment, it also reduced women's expression of adverse effects related to cancer treatment. Elements of patient-provider interactions that facilitated patient engagement in treatment included physicians speaking the same language or having the same cultural background as the patient, encouraging questions, and having a calm demeanor.

Interventions to facilitate patient activation, especially in the absence of social support, could be useful for Hispanic women throughout the course of cancer treatment.