Perceptions of clinical care and research among African-American patients with lymphoma

Abstract

Across lymphoma subtypes, African Americans experience disparities in clinical trial enrollment and outcomes. Understanding the needs of this population can aid addressing these disparities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 self-identified Black/African-American lymphoma patients to determine their perceptions and attitudes about aspects of treatment and research. Constant-comparative methods identified themes including trust in medical staff, lack of diagnosis information, interest in research, research priorities, and potentially unaddressed emotional needs. Patients trusted their doctors and desired more diagnosis information. Participants often did not consider the emotions surrounding their diagnoses and concentrated on positive attitudes during treatment. Most participants were interested in clinical trials to help future lymphoma patients. Participants suggested a range of future research topics emphasizing lymphoma etiology. Building on trusting doctor-patient relationships, expanding clinical trials information, addressing emotional needs, and aligning research objectives with patient concerns are potential strategies for increasing clinical trial enrollment among Black lymphoma patients.

Keywords:

• Lymphoma
• African American
• qualitative
• interview
• disparities
• treatment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research is supported in part by NCI award number U01CA195568 to Drs. Cerhan and Flowers, K24CA208132 to Dr. Flowers, and Cancer Prevention & Research Institute in Texas (CPRIT) Award RR190079 to Dr. Flowers.