The importance of patient engagement to quality of breast cancer care and health-related quality of life: a cross-sectional study among Latina breast cancer survivors in rural and urban communities

Table 1 Sample characteristics of rural and urban Latina breast cancer survivors, Nuevo Amanecer I and II, N = 304

	Total sample n = 304	Urban n = 151	Rural n = 153	p
Age in years, mean (SD)	52.7 (10.9)	50.5 (10.9)	54.8 (10.4)	< 0.001^e
Years since diagnosis; n (%)				< 0.001^e
< 1 year	201 (66.1)	151 (100)	50 (32.7)
1–5 years	78 (25.7)	0 (0)	78 (51)
> 5 years	25 (8.2)	0 (0)	25 (16.3)
Education, n (%)				0.233
Less than high school	206 (67.8)	100 (66.2)	106 (69.3)
High school	44 (14.5)	27 (17.9)	17 (11.1)
More than high school	53 (17.4)	24 (15.9)	29 (19.0)
Missing	1 (0.3)	0 (0)	1 (0.7)
Limited English proficiency, n (%)				0.115
Yes	257 (84.5)	133 (88.1)	124 (81.0)
No	46 (15.1)	18 (11.9)	28 (18.3)
Missing	1 (0.3)	0 (0)	1 (0.7)
Breast cancer stage at diagnosis, n (%)				< 0.001^e
0	48 (15.8)	40 (26.5)	8 (5.2)
I	68 (22.4)	23 (15.2)	45 (29.4)
II	112 (36.8)	57 (37.7)	55 (35.9)
III	58 (19.1)	31 (20.5)	27 (17.6)
Missing	18 (5.9)	0 (0)	18 (11.8)
Surgery type, n (%)				0.457
Breast conserving surgery	160 (52.6)	84 (55.6)	76 (49.7)
Mastectomy	139 (45.7)	67 (44.4)	72 (47.1)
None	1 (0.3)	0 (0)	1 (0.7)
Missing	4 (1.3)	0 (0)	4 (2.6)
Adjuvant treatment, n (%)				0.002^e
Both radiation and chemotherapy	151 (49.7)	60 (39.7)	91 (59.5)
Only chemotherapy	47 (15.5)	25 (16.6)	22 (14.4)
Only radiation	70 (23.0)	42 (27.8)	28 (18.3)
No treatment	34 (11.2)	24 (15.9)	10 (6.5)
Missing	2 (0.7)	0 (0)	2 (1.3)
Difficulty engaging with doctors^a, mean (SD)	1.7 (0.8)	1.8 (0.8)	1.6 (0.8)	0.032^e
Quality of breast cancer care and information^b, mean (SD)	4.0 (0.9)	4.1 (1.0)	4.0 (0.9)	0.670
Emotional well-being^c; mean (SD)	13.4 (4.8)	12.5 (5.0)	14.4 (4.3)	< 0.001^e
Physical well-being^d; mean (SD)	16.7 (5.4)	16.0 (5.5)	17.4 (5.3)	0.030^e

^aDifficulty engaging with doctors scale, 3-item scale with response options of 1 = not at all difficult to 4 = very difficult; higher score = greater difficulty; scale score = mean of non-missing values; range = 1–4
^bQuality of breast cancer care and information, 2-item scale with response options of 1 = poor to 5 = excellent; higher score = more satisfied; scale score = mean of non-missing values; range = 1–5
^cEmotional well-being, 5-item scale with response options of 0 = not at all to 4 = very much; higher score = greater difficulty; scale score = mean of non-missing values; range = 0–20
^dPhysical well-being Scale, 6-item scale with response options of 0 = not at all to 4 = very much; higher scores = greater difficulty; scale score = mean of non-missing values; range = 0–24
^eBolded font indicates p-values that were statistically significant at p < 0.05 or less

ISSN: 1472-6874