Abstract B024: Engaging rural male cancer survivors during COVID-19
Authors: Lockhart Jala , Ross Levi , Sheppard Vanessa B. , Preston Michael A. 
Published: December 2023

Purpose: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has many downstream effects. Over 16.9 million people have survived cancer in the United States. Although the overall death rate has declined, disparities exists among underserved populations. Black men, unfortunately, bear the greatest burden of suboptimal cancer outcomes and face the shortest life-expectancy of any other group in the United States. Multiple studies suggest that Black survivors (particularly men) have poorer overall health, social support, and cancer care outcomes. Men who are diagnosed with cancer have unique needs (e.g., support after treatment); however, men who live in rural areas have unique barriers that may impact their quality of life and outcomes (e.g., recurrence, mortality). Factors that influence cancer disparities are multi-level and multifactorial. Understanding these factors in rural Black men will help us develop interventions that are effective and sustainability. In this study, we examined rural men knowledge, attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs about support groups, surgical treatment, and genetic testing for colorectal cancer and prostate cancer which are critical to survivorship. Methods: A mix-method study was conducted with rural male survivors. Descriptive and comparative analyses were used to examine the impact of Covid-19 and multi-level facilitators and barriers related to access to care for social support, navigation to genetic testing, and geographic barriers. Focus groups with rural male survivors were conducted to obtain participants’ demographics, knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and beliefs about support groups, surgical treatment options, and genetic testing to determine facilitators and barriers to quality of care outcomes for male cancer survivors from underserved areas. Results: Findings from this study suggest that survivors who actively seek information and resources have higher satisfaction with treatment selection and quality of life outcomes. Surprisingly, during Covid-19 rural men did not actively seek resources that could have a direct positive impact on their survivorship and quality of life outcomes. 23 rural male survivors (prostate cancer (61%); colorectal cancer (39%)) participated in this study. 48% identified as Black Americans and 52% as White Americans. 67% reported having knowledge of cancer-related support groups, but only 24% actively participated during Covid-19. We will present findings from our analysis that look at facilitators and barriers to survivorship and quality of life outcomes. Conclusions: We hypothesize that lower access to resources that increase survivorship will be an independent predictor to lower quality of life outcomes. Rural males are less engaged in activities such as support groups that are effective tools to improve survivorship and quality of life outcomes. Knowledge gained from this study will inform future precision public health interventions that seek to improve the quality of life outcomes for male survivors in rural and underserved areas.

Citation Format: Jala Lockhart, Levi Ross, Vanessa B. Sheppard, Michael A. Preston. Engaging rural male cancer survivors during COVID-19 [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 16th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2023 Sep 29-Oct 2;Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2023;32(12 Suppl):Abstract nr B024.