Interpersonal Processes of Care Disparities, Symptom Distress, and Chemotherapy Dosing in Women With Early-Stage Breast Cancer.
Hiba Abujaradeh, Susan R Mazanec, Catherine M Bender and 5 others
PMID 40680276WHAT IT FOUND
Black women receiving early-stage breast cancer chemotherapy reported less clear communication, more discrimination and staff disrespect than White women.
Perceived discrimination was associated with lower chemotherapy dose receipt and higher symptom distress, but the full analysis did not confirm these links.
Key findings
01Black women reported worse lack of clarity, more perceived discrimination due to race or ethnicity, and more disrespectful office staff than White women.
02Higher perceived discrimination due to race or ethnicity was associated with less likelihood of receiving at least 85% of prescribed chemotherapy by the projected endpoint, but the multivariate model was not significant.
03Worse interpersonal care perceptions were associated with higher symptom distress, but no single subdomain uniquely predicted distress in the multiple regression model.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study is correlational, so it cannot show that discrimination or communication caused lower chemotherapy dose receipt or higher symptom distress. The multivariate chemotherapy dose model was not significant, and no interpersonal care subdomain uniquely predicted symptom distress, so the associations may not hold after accounting for other measured factors. Participants were a convenience sample of English-speaking women with early-stage breast cancer who had not started chemotherapy or were early in treatment, and some were excluded for impaired cognition, prior chemotherapy, metastatic disease, or treatment outside the clinic. Scores were averaged across visits, so the study did not capture how interpersonal care perceptions and symptom distress changed over time. Provider-patient race match was not measured because few Black clinicians participated and confidentiality concerns existed. Race was limited to Black or White, so other cultural factors were not examined.
Declared interests
The study used data from grant R01MD012245 with Rosenzweig as principal investigator. No conflict-of-interest declaration is provided in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that perceived discrimination causes lower chemotherapy dosing or higher symptom distress. The study is correlational, the multivariate chemotherapy dosing model was not significant, and no single interpersonal care subdomain uniquely predicted symptom distress.