Racial and ethnic disparities in communication study enrollment for young people with cancer: A descriptive analysis of the literature.
Bryan A Sisk, Megan Keenan, Melody S Goodman and 4 others
PMID 34991915WHAT IT FOUND
In a typical study, White participants made up 80% of pediatric cancer communication research participants, versus 72% in the 2020 US Census.
Across 98 studies, Black, Asian, Hispanic, Pacific Islander and Native American participants were underrepresented.
Key findings
01The review included 98 US pediatric cancer communication studies. In a typical study, White participants were 80% versus 72% in the 2020 US Census, while Black, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American and Hispanic participants were underrepresented.
02Race and ethnicity reporting was inconsistent: 21% of studies did not report race, 41% did not report ethnicity, 14% split participants into White versus non-White, and 29% reported Hispanic ethnicity as a racial category.
03Of 57 studies that reported Black participants, 82% had a smaller proportion than the US national average, and 32% had fewer than 5% Black participants.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Many articles did not report detailed race and ethnicity, so calculations used only studies that reported them; this could under- or over-estimate representation. The analysis covered only 3 years, so it cannot describe historical trends. It was limited to US studies and English-language articles, and broad communication search terms might have missed relevant articles. The authors note that race and ethnicity categories can be reductionist and may stand for racism or structural inequality rather than being causes themselves.
Declared interests
The authors declared no financial or professional competing interests or conflicts of interest relevant to the article.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that clinicians communicate worse with minority families. This paper analyzed who was enrolled in communication studies and how race and ethnicity were reported. It did not test communication quality or patient outcomes.