Abstract P5-09-09: Preferences in educational topics of interest for women with breast cancer: Does age influence topic preferences?
Authors: Swiger KD , Guglielmino JE , Labban JD , Rugo HS , Domchek SM , Anders CK , Nelson HCM , Hanson AA , Dinerman H , Henry CC 
Published: May 2016

Purpose: To ensure that people with breast cancer receive materials and programs that fit their needs for education, information, and support by identifying clinical, treatment, demographic, socioeconomic, and emotional characteristics targeting their specific needs and concerns.

Respondents and Methods: Women diagnosed with breast cancer responded to an online 80-question survey to identify education and support needs. Participants self-reported age at time of the survey, and were asked to rate their level of interest in 35 educational topics, including treatment issues and practical, financial, and psychosocial concerns. Potential ratings were "Not Interested," "Interested," and "Very Interested." This analysis examined whether age was associated with interest level in these topics. Point biserial correlations were calculated to determine bivariate association. Interest ratings were collapsed into "Not Interested" and "Very Interested or Interested," and the age variable was continuous (mean = 53.37 years; standard deviation = 10.65). A false discovery rate adjustment was applied to the significance threshold (p &lt; .029) to account for multiple comparisons.

Results: The response rate to each item/topic was approximately 75.4% (2,636/3,496). Topics that received high levels of interest, regardless of age, included new treatments and research and long-term health impacts. However, advancing age was negatively associated with interest in fertility preservation (p &lt; .001), career and work (p &lt; .001), early menopause (p &lt; .001), and breast reconstruction (p &lt; .001). Advancing age was positively associated with interest in hospice and end-of-life care (p &lt; .001) and communication with your doctor and healthcare team (p &lt; .01).

Conclusions: Age can be a determining factor in women's preferences for breast cancer educational topics. All women, regardless of age, agreed that staying informed about new treatments and research and long-term health impacts are of great interest. Younger women, as might be expected, were significantly more interested than older women in fertility preservation, career and work, early menopause, and breast reconstruction, while older women were significantly more interested in hospice and end-of-life care and communicating with their doctor and healthcare team. Understanding the impact of age on educational topic preference could enable the healthcare team to focus on those issues of greatest interest at a time when face-to-face interactions continue to be reduced, maximizing the effectiveness of these interactions by tailoring discussion to the individual's educational concerns. Living Beyond Breast Cancer and several other breast cancer organizations have some age-specific educational materials and programs available. Oncology practices and cancer centers might consider reviewing them in light of these data, which point to the need to enhance these face-to-face interactions and overall quality of life.

Citation Format: Swiger KD, Guglielmino JE, Labban JD, Rugo HS, Domchek SM, Anders CK, Nelson HCM, Hanson AA, Dinerman H, Henry CC. Preferences in educational topics of interest for women with breast cancer: Does age influence topic preferences?. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Eighth Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2015 Dec 8-12; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P5-09-09.