Parental Cancer-related Information Seeking, Health Communication and Satisfaction with Medical Providers of Childhood Cancer Survivors: Differences by Race/Ethnicity and Language Preference.

For childhood cancer survivors (CCS), parents play an important role in communicating with providers and conveying patient's needs. This exploratory study examined the prevalence of cancer-related information-seeking among parents of CCS and investigated the association between parents' race/ethnicity and language preference with health communication and satisfaction with child's medical providers. One hundred and sixty CCS and their parents from two hospitals in Los Angeles County were recruited from the SEER registry. Multivariable logistic regression analyses assessed associations between parents' race/ethnicity and language preference and their health communication with their child and with their child's medical care providers. Among the parents, 29% were Spanish-speaking Hispanics, 27% English-speaking Hispanics, and 43% English-speaking non-Hispanics. Regardless of language preference, Hispanic parents were more likely than non-Hispanic parents to receive health information about their CCS's cancer from hospital sources versus the internet. There was no difference by ethnicity/language in parent satisfaction with their CCS's medical provider. Spanish-speaking Hispanic parents were more likely to report talking to their CCS about the need for cancer-related follow-up care compared to non-Hispanic English-speaking parents. These findings point to the potential importance of parents' ethnicity and language for sources of health information and frequency of communication with their CCS about their cancer care.