Abstract 3429: Patient awareness of staging in cancer diagnosis: Helpful or hurtful

Abstract

Abstract Objective: In this study we will examine if education levels of English-speaking patients in New Jersey Medical School's Outpatient Cancer Center is correlated with awareness of their disease. Next we will examine their level of depression, as well as explore if patients’ awareness of their disease is correlated with depression. Lastly we will explore if patients’ awareness of their disease is correlated with their level of self-perceived stigma regarding depression. Methods: This project is part of a larger questionnaire-based study examining depression prevalence and its associated stigma in cancer patients. Participants consisted of English-speaking oncology patients at New Jersey Medical Cancer Center outpatient oncology clinics. The parts of the questionnaire that I analyzed for this study: 1. What is your level of education? 2. What stage was your cancer in when you were diagnosed? 3. Currently is your cancer localized to a single area or has it metastasized to other areas? 4. Depression symptoms were assessed using the CES-D depression scale. 5. Self-stigma was assessed using Depression Stigma Scale. Summary: An increased level of education was associated with a significantly increased level of awareness of cancer staging, linear by linear association (1, N = 223) = 9.353 p = .002. 31% of patients did not know their cancer staging and/or whether or not it had metastasized. Out of the people who were aware of staging only 28.5% were depressed, whereas 34.8% of people who were unaware of staging and/or metastasis were depressed, Fisher Exact test p = .308. While this is not significant, the trend is an important one to be aware of and to examine in future research. Patients who were aware of their staging and metastasis had a lower mean self-perceived stigma than patients who were unaware of staging and/or metastasis, 14.87 and 15.19 respectively, t(216) = .32, p = .031 Conclusion: Doctors must recognize that patients in low educated demographic areas, such as Newark, require special attention and need to be evaluated on whether or not they understood what the doctor explained to them about their disease. Further research should focus on analyzing the exact reasons underlying this lack of patient knowledge. In addition, the correlation between lack of knowledge and depression should continue to be explored as patient control and autonomy can improve patient outcomes. Doctors should recognize that patients may have a high self-perceived stigma associated with depression, which can act as a barrier to treatment. Future studies should look at how to dispel that stigma. Citation Format: Ariel Schaap, Rashi Aggarwal, Jason Domogauer. Patient awareness of staging in cancer diagnosis: Helpful or hurtful. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 3429. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-3429