Barriers to Cancer Care, Perceived Social Support, and Patient Navigation Services for Korean Breast Cancer Patients

Abstract

The present study aimed to examine the relationships among barriers to cancer care, perceived social support, and patient navigation services (PNS) for Korean breast cancer patients. For Korean breast cancer patients, PNS are comprised of five services, including emotional, financial, information, transportation, and disease management. The study findings demonstrated that transportation and disease management barriers were directly associated with PNS, whereas emotional and financial barriers were indirectly associated with PNS through perceived social support. The current study provides a preliminary Korean patient navigation model to identify how barriers to cancer care can be reduced through social support and PNS.

KEYWORDS:

• barriers to cancer care
• Korean breast cancer patients
• patient navigation services
• perceived social support

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this research was supported by a grant from the National R&D Program for Cancer Control (Code: 1120250).