Abstract B039: I am good but depressed: The mental health impact of breast cancer on the black community
Authors: Galloway Dorothy , Teteh Dede , Clark Phyllis , Mitchell Eudora , Kittles Rick , Montgomery Susanne 
Published: September 2020

In the US Black women have higher incidence and mortality rates of breast cancer than White women. Patients diagnosed with breast cancer (BC) are known to experience a decline in mental health (MH). Patient’s reactions after diagnosis can involve denial, depression, anxiety, and anger. Close relatives and friends of patients are often also psychologically affected although their involvement and support of the BC patient has been associated with better survival outcomes. There is a gap in our understanding of the mental health impact on Black BC patient’s close friends and family members. The purpose of this study is to explore the MH impact of a BC diagnosis on Black BC patient’s close friends and family. Methodology: Analysis were conducted on a data set of African American (AA) and African/ Caribbean (AC) Women in Southern California. The data were collected from 2014-2016, using a 40-item questionnaire. Analysis included descriptive and inferential statistics. Survey data was analyzed using SPSS Version 25. Results: In our sample (N= 172), 57.8% of respondents were relatives and friends of patients with BC, compared to 35.1% of respondents who were not impacted by the disease. AA (81.3%) were significantly more impacted by BC than our AC participants (57.4%) (p=0.001). While the self-reported MH status of the respondents was excellent (46.4%) or good (35.7%) overall and no one reported their MH status as poor , among participants impacted by the disease (n=105), a higher proportion (18.1%) reported feeling depressed several days (p=0.61) versus those who were unaffected (n=60) by BC (13.3 %). It is important to note, when we analyzed the entire sample of the study (i.e. those with family and friends with breast cancer and those without), there was a significant difference in our respondents’ self-report of their MH status and feelings of depression (p=0.008). Discussion: AA and AC women often have poorer recovery outcomes from BC than White women, including MH issues, though little is known about the MH on the Black BC patients’ close family/friends. In this study, most participants reported their MH as excellent or good and although not statistically significant, we found some differences if respondents reported having a close relative/friend with a history of BC. Our findings point to the need for future studies to better link the diagnosis temporally with BC and should consider if the instrument is appropriate for this community considering the discrepancy in the interpretation of MH versus depression. Future research should consider creating culturally tailored tools to assess the MH impact of BC diagnosis on patients’ relatives and friends.

Citation Format: Dorothy Galloway, Dede Teteh, Phyllis Clark, Eudora Mitchell, Rick Kittles, Susanne Montgomery. I am good but depressed: The mental health impact of breast cancer on the black community [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2019 Sep 20-23; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(6 Suppl_2):Abstract nr B039.