Describing Self-Advocacy in Underrepresented Women With Advanced Cancer.
Sarah Bell, Rachel Bergeron, Patricia Jo Murray and 2 others
PMID 37874756WHAT IT FOUND
Women with advanced breast or gynecologic cancer described self-advocacy as speaking up about symptoms, asking questions, and leaning on family, friends, or employers.
They valued honest, accessible, direct oncology teams.
Key findings
01Half of the participants reported asking for medical interventions such as imaging, continuing chemotherapy, or additional laboratory values.
02Participants preferred oncology teams that were honest, accessible, and gave direct answers, even when the answer was not desirable.
03Participants described support from family, friends, community, and employers as part of self-advocacy.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only ten women completed the substudy, and they were recruited from one cancer center. The study was nested inside a parent intervention trial, so it is unclear whether self-advocacy existed before or was learned during the intervention. All underrepresented statuses were combined, so experiences cannot be tied to specific groups. Healthcare providers were not interviewed, so team-side communication factors were not captured. Transcripts were not returned to participants for review.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that the serious game intervention improved self-advocacy. The substudy described experiences among women in both parent study arms and did not test the intervention's effect.