Impact of the Therapeutic Alliance on Reduction of Disparities in Latino End-of-Life Cancer Care

Summary

Participation Requirements

Description

Cancer is the leading cause of death among Latinos in the United States (US), who now represent the largest minority group. Latino cancer patients engage in advance care planning less often and receive less value-consistent care at the end-of-life (EoL) more often than non-Latino cancer patients. Th...

Cancer is the leading cause of death among Latinos in the United States (US), who now represent the largest minority group. Latino cancer patients engage in advance care planning less often and receive less value-consistent care at the end-of-life (EoL) more often than non-Latino cancer patients. The proposed research addresses the pressing need to reduce Latino EoL care disparities by developing an intervention for improving the therapeutic alliance between oncologists and their Latino cancer patients. The objective of this project is to develop and pilot test the feasibility and acceptability of an intervention designed to improve the therapeutic alliance (TA) between oncologists and their Latino advanced cancer patients. Mixed methods will be used to create a conceptual model of the TA between oncologists and their Latino advanced cancer patients. The TA intervention will be pilot tested in a randomized control trial. The underlying hypothesis is that an intervention based on an empirically-sound conceptual model of the TA between oncologists and Latino advanced cancer patients, that supports oncologists' and patients' autonomy, competence, and relatedness, will lead to improved TA between oncologists and Latino advanced cancer patients, which in turn will lead to reduced disparities in advanced care planning engagement and end-of-life care quality.

Tracking Information