The Landscape of Perception: Racial Differences in How Disability Is Viewed Among Older-Adult Cancer Survivors.

This paper compares disability perceptions of Black with white older cancer survivors' to document racial disparities in these perceptions and the factors that contribute to them. The data are from a randomly selected tumor registry sample of 321 older adult cancer survivors from an NCI funded study. OLS regression models of disability perceptions, nested by race, examined the effects cancer and non-cancer health factors along with important covariates. Black older adult cancer survivors perceived themselves to be more disabled than did white survivors. Multivariate analyses showed a strong relationship between functional difficulties and disability perceptions for both Black and white survivors. However cancer-related factors such as continuing symptoms of the illness or treatment were relatively more important for Blacks. The findings suggest that race and cancer are both important factors in our understanding of disability in later life. These findings can then inform clinical best practices among minority older adults.

Life satisfaction among older adult, long-term cancer survivors: A comparison of Black with White survivors.

OBJECTIVE: This paper proposes and evaluates a model of the relative importance that cancer-related health factor along with other health factors have for the self-rated health and life satisfaction of older adult, long-term cancer survivors. The data are examined in the context of important racial differences in health and life satisfaction along with other covariates including gender and education. METHOD: This research utilizes regression-based path analysis to examine data from a sample of 321 older (age 60+), long-term (5+ years since diagnosis) cancer survivors. Respondents were randomly selected from the tumor registry of a major university hospital cancer center from among those with breast, prostate, or colorectal cancer. Blacks were oversampled to provide the analytic power to make racial comparisons among cancer survivors. RESULTS: Bivariate analysis indicates that there is a consistent pattern of Black/White differences in both cancer-related and general health characteristics as well as life satisfaction among older cancer survivors. Moreover, the results suggest that race is an important predictor of older survivors' health characteristics. These, in turn, explain significant variance in both self-rated health and life satisfaction, that is, attributed to Black/White differences in these predictors. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical health and social service providers need to be aware of the importance of both general health and cancer-related health factors when working with minority long-term cancer survivors as these have implications for their overall quality of life.

Factors Affecting Perceptions of Disability and Self-Rated Health Among Older Adult, Long-Term Cancer Survivors.

OBJECTIVE: This article examines the relative importance of cancer-related and noncancer illness factors as they predict the health quality of life among older adult, long-term cancer survivors. Specifically, it examines the effects that continuing cancer symptoms and comorbidities have on functional difficulties and how they in turn affect perceptions of disability and self-rated health. METHOD: Data from an National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded, tumor registry-based 10-year study of 321 older adult (age 60+), long-term (5+years post diagnosis) survivors of breast colorectal and prostate cancer are examined using regression analyses. RESULTS: The analyses documented the independent effects of both cancer-related and age-related health factors as they contribute to explaining functional difficulties, perceptions of disability and self-rated health. Gender and racial differences in health quality of life were also identified. DISCUSSION: The findings suggest that geriatricians, geriatric nurses, and clinical gerontologists who work with cancer survivorsneed to be aware of the ways in which both cancer and noncancer illness factors work together in producing threats to health quality of life through the extent and nature of functional impairments.