African American Women Breast Cancer Survivors: Coping with the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Abstract

African American women breast cancer survivors are among those with the greater burden of cancer. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death among black women, and this death rate is 40% higher than that of white women. The COVID-19 pandemic increased the burden of morbidity and mortality among this population of cancer survivors. In this report, we explore the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic was a source of stress for African American women breast cancer survivors and their subsequent responses to these stressors. This is a qualitative descriptive study with content analysis of data from the narratives of 18 African American breast cancer survivors. Participants were interviewed via phone and video conferencing platform and asked questions related to their experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings suggest stressors associated with (1) potential COVID-19 spreaders in their immediate environments; (2) closures and restricted access to social- and faith-based activities; (3) televised news broadcasts of COVID-19; and (4) disruptions to planned cancer prevention and control healthcare. Three categories emerged that captured the ways in which these women responded to stressors during the early phase of this pandemic: (1) seeking control in their social environments; (2) following the rules; and (3) seeking support from God, family, and friends. These findings can be used to better support breast cancer patients during the early phases of a pandemic.

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Who is lonely in lockdown? Cross-cohort analyses of predictors of loneliness before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

F Bu, A Steptoe, D. Fancourt (2020)

Background There are concerns internationally that lockdown measures taken during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic could lead to a rise in loneliness. As loneliness is recognised as a major public health concern, it is therefore vital that research considers the impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic on loneliness to provide necessary support. But it remains unclear, who is lonely in lockdown? Methods This study compared sociodemographic predictors of loneliness before and during the COVID-19 pandemic using cross-cohort analyses of data from UK adults captured before the pandemic (UK Household Longitudinal Study, n = 31,064) and during the pandemic (UCL (University College London) COVID-19 Social Study, n = 60,341). Results Risk factors for loneliness were near identical before and during the pandemic. Young adults, women, people with lower education or income, the economically inactive, people living alone and urban residents had a higher risk of being lonely. Some people who were already at risk of being lonely (e.g. young adults aged 18–30 years, people with low household income and adults living alone) experienced a heightened risk during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with people living before COVID-19 emerged. Furthermore, being a student emerged as a higher risk factor during lockdown than usual. Conclusions Findings suggest that interventions to reduce or prevent loneliness during COVID-19 should be targeted at those sociodemographic groups already identified as high risk in previous research. These groups are likely not just to experience loneliness during the pandemic but potentially to have an even higher risk than normal of experiencing loneliness relative to low-risk groups.

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Patient-reported treatment delays in breast cancer care during the COVID-19 pandemic

Elizabeth Lerner Papautsky, Tamara Hamlish (2020)

Purpose The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has had a profound impact on cancer care in the US Guidelines focused on the management of COVID-19, rather than healthcare needs of breast cancer patients requiring access to crucial services. This US survey of breast cancer survivors characterizes treatment delays early period in the pandemic. Methods We developed a survey and administered it to 609 adult breast cancer survivors in the US. We used snowball sampling with invitations distributed via social media. We used logistic regression to select a model of delay from a pool of independent variables including race, cancer stage, site of care, health insurance, and age. We used descriptive statistics to characterize delay types. Results Forty-four percent of participants reported cancer care treatment delays during the pandemic. Delays in all aspects of cancer care and treatment were reported. The only variable which had a significant effect was age (97 (.95, 99), p < 0.001) with younger respondents (M = 45.94, SD = 10.31) reporting a higher incidence of delays than older respondents (M = 48.98, SD = 11.10). There was no significant effect for race, insurance, site of care, or cancer stage. Conclusions Our findings reveal a pervasive impact of COVID-19 on breast cancer care and a gap in disaster preparedness that leaves cancer survivors at risk for poor outcomes. Delays are critical to capture and characterize to help cancer providers and healthcare systems develop effective and patient–tailored processes and strategies to manage cases during the current pandemic wave, subsequent waves, and future disasters.

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Older Adults’ Experience of the COVID-19 Pandemic:A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Stresses and Joys

Brenda Whitehead, Emily Torossian (2020)

Abstract Background and Objectives The Coronavirus Disease–2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is experienced differently across individuals, and older adults’ different life experiences lead to a variety of ways of coping. The present study explores older adults’ reports of what about the pandemic is stressful, and what brings joy and comfort in the midst of stress Research Design and Methods An online survey asked 825 U.S. adults aged 60 and older to complete questionnaires assessing three psychological well-being indicators: perceived stress, negative affect, and positive affect. Participants also responded to open-ended questions about what was stressful and what brought joy or comfort at the time of the survey. A mixed-method approach first qualitatively analyzed the open-ended responses, content analysis identified themes most frequently reported, and quantitative analysis examined the associations between various stressors and joys and the psychological well-being indicators Results Qualitative analysis revealed 20 stress categories and 21 joy/comfort categories. The most commonly reported stressors were confinement/restrictions, concern for others, and isolation/loneliness; the most commonly reported sources of joy/comfort were family/friend relationships, digital social contact, and hobbies. Demographic comparisons revealed variations in experience. Independent t-tests revealed stress from concern for others, the unknown future, and contracting the virus to be significantly associated with poorer psychological well-being; faith, exercise/self-care, and nature were associated with more positive psychological well-being Discussion and Implications Results are discussed in the context of stress and coping theory, highlighting the importance of understanding the unique stress experience of each individual for effective distress intervention

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Author and article information

Contributors

Jill B. Hamilton:

ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6553-5079

jbhamil@emory.edu

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): J Cancer Educ

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): J Cancer Educ

Title: Journal of Cancer Education

Publisher: Springer US (New York )

ISSN (Print): 0885-8195

ISSN (Electronic): 1543-0154

Publication date (Electronic): 4 April 2023

Pages: 1-9

Affiliations

[1 ]GRID grid.189967.8, ISNI 0000 0001 0941 6502, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University, ; Atlanta, GA 30322 USA

[2 ]GRID grid.189967.8, ISNI 0000 0001 0941 6502, Candler School of Theology, , Emory University, ; Atlanta, GA 30322 USA

[3 ]GRID grid.38142.3c, ISNI 000000041936754X, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, , Harvard Medical School, ; Boston, 02115 USA

[4 ]TOUCH, BBCA, Annapolis, MD 21403 USA

[5 ]GRID grid.26009.3d, ISNI 0000 0004 1936 7961, Duke University School of Nursing, ; Durham, NC 27708 USA

Author information

Jill B. Hamilton http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6553-5079

Article

Publisher ID: 2296

DOI: 10.1007/s13187-023-02296-7

PMC ID: 10071457

PubMed ID: 37014616

SO-VID: 8b1af045-df72-4f81-b218-5357bed47441

Copyright © © The Author(s) under exclusive licence to American Association for Cancer Education 2023, Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

License:

This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.

History

Date accepted : 26 March 2023

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