Katarina Wang

and 14 more

Background Cancer is the leading cause of death among Asian Americans, who face barriers to cancer care. Cancer supportive care needs among Asian Americans remain understudied. Methods We recruited 47 Asian American adults with colorectal, liver, or lung cancer who spoke Chinese, English, or Vietnamese, and were starting or undergoing cancer treatment. We assessed cancer supportive care needs in four domains: cancer information, daily living, behavioral health, and language assistance. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to identify clusters of participants based on their need profiles to further examine the association between need profiles and quality of life (QoL) assessed by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT-G). Results Participants (mean age=57.6) included 72% males and 62% spoke English less than very well. Older participants (age >65) and those with annual income <$50K reported higher daily living needs. Men and younger participants (age <50) reported higher behavioral health needs. We found 3 clusters displaying distinct cancer supportive need profiles: Cluster 1 (28% of the sample) displayed high needs across all domains; Cluster 2 (51%) had low overall needs; and Cluster 3 (21%) had high needs for cancer information and daily living. Cluster 1 participants reported lowest QoL. Conclusions Cancer supportive care needs among Asian American patients with colorectal, liver and lung cancer were associated with patient characteristics and QoL. Understanding cancer supportive care needs will inform future interventions to improve care and QoL for Asian American cancer patients.