Abstract
Latinos in the US suffer health disparities including stage of disease at time of breast or colon cancer diagnosis. Understanding Latinas’ causal attributions of breast and colon cancer may provide insight into some of the individual level determinants of cancer disparities in this population. Cultural consensus analysis (CCA) is one way to study causal beliefs. The objective of this study was to describe Latina immigrants’ causal attributions of breast and colon cancer. We conducted Spanish-language interviews with 22 Latina immigrants using a qualitative exploratory design comprised of freelisting, ranking, and open-ended questions. Participants freelisted causes and risk factors for breast and colon cancer then ranked risk factors according to their perceived role in the development of each cancer. CCA was conducted on rank orders to identify whether a cultural consensus model was present. Participants answered semi-structured, open-ended questions regarding the risk factors and rankings. Interviews were transcribed and subjected to thematic analysis. CCA showed no consensus around rank of causes for either cancer, and residual agreement analysis suggested the presence of two subcultural groups. “Genetics” and “hereditary factors” ranked first and second on average across participants for both cancers. Based on interview data, participants were less aware of colon cancer than breast cancer. Participants’ endorsement of heredity as a cause of breast and colon cancer was similar to beliefs reported in studies of primarily non-Latina populations.
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Funding
This research study was funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute Intramural Research Program, National Institutes of Health. At the time of data collection, Katie Fiallos was a trainee supported by the NHGRI Intramural Research Program and Lori Erby was an employee of the NHGRI Intramural Research Program.
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Katie Fiallos: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing – Original Draft, Jill Owczarzak: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – Review & Editing, Joann Bodurtha: Resources, Writing – Review & Editing, Sonia Margarit: Data curation, Writing – Review & Editing, Lori Erby: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – Review and Editing
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All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (5).
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Katie Fiallos, Jill Owczarzak, Joann Bodurtha, Sonia Margarit, and Lori Erby all declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Fiallos, K., Owczarzak, J., Bodurtha, J. et al. Latina immigrants’ breast and colon cancer causal attributions: genetics is key. J Community Genet 15, 59–73 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12687-023-00681-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12687-023-00681-9