Objectives: The communication patterns between clinician and patient, described as the patient centeredness of care (PCC), may be a critically important etiology of breast cancer (BC) racial disparity. The purpose of this prospective, comparative pilot study was to qualitatively explore and code for PCC during the clinical visit of women undergoing BC chemotherapy and compare by race.
Methods: Age-matched Black and White women were recruited. Audio recordings of clinical visits conducted prior to any cycle (except first) chemotherapy infusion were obtained and transcribed. Transcripts were blindly reviewed by three independent coders assigning PCC scores, ranging from 1 to 5, with lower scores indicating better PCC. Consensus was reached among reviewers via discussion.
Results: Dyads consisted of five Black (mean age 47) and five White (mean age 45) women undergoing BC chemotherapy. Twenty-four recordings were analyzed, 13 White and 11 Black. For all 22 PCC items, the mean scores were worse for Black women with significant differences (compared by chi-square analysis) noted for 6/22 items (27%).
Conclusions: Qualitatively exploring clinician and patient communication patterns during the chemotherapy clinical visits informs the understanding of racial differences for symptom assessment, reporting, and management. These pilot findings inform future research exploring racial disparity in cancer treatment dose intensity.
Keywords: Breast cancer chemotherapy; Patient-centered communication; Racial disparity; Symptom management.