DF/HCC Program Affiliation

Cancer Nursing Research
Outcomes Research

Research Abstract

In order to improve cancer care, it is vital that cancer survivorship research expands to include the entire family unit. In addition, ethnicity may contribute to variations in the experience of cancer for families with an adult family member who has survived cancer. The same factors that contribute to the ethnic disparities in mortality (e.g., poverty, limited resources, and specific beliefs) may contribute to a more negative psychological experience of cancer for cancer survivor families. Therefore, it is necessary to understand how the families of different ethnicities perceive cancer, their ethnic beliefs about cancer and its treatment options, as well as the impact of cancer survivorship on family function and family quality of life. Families of various ethnicities with an adult family member with cancer deserve special attention as they remain an under-represented population. This becomes particularly important as the proportion of ethnic diversification continues to increase (American Cancer Society, 2005). Therefore, the aim of this program of family cancer research is to improve family functioning for families from different ethnicities through studies that investigate family’s beliefs about cancer survival and the influence of those beliefs on family function from that ethnic specific perspective. Once those beliefs are more fully understood, nursing interventions can be designed to facilitate optimal, ethnic-specific family functioning for families with an adult family member surviving cancer.

Publications

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