PROJECT SUMMARY
Gaps and misconceptions in patient knowledge can contribute to poor care adherence, decreased quality of life,
and even negative outcomes, especially in underserved populations. There is an urgent need to systematically
capture, characterize, and develop mechanisms for breast cancer patient knowledge sharing. The objective of
the proposed feasibility and acceptability pilot study is to capture lived experiences of breast cancer patients and
characterize their knowledge types, levels, and gaps longitudinally. Topics include comprehension of illness
(type, stage, prognosis), treatment decision making, navigating emergent events resulting in deviations from
treatment trajectory (e.g. hospitalization for neutropenic fever). In a collaboration between human factors
researcher, medical oncologist, and a patient partner, we will conduct semi-structured Cognitive Task Analysis
interviews to elicit breast cancer patient experiences longitudinally (prior to first treatment, 6 months and 1 year
after diagnosis). We recruit ~35 adult breast cancer patients. We will analyze interview data using thematic
analysis and develop taxonomy of patient knowledge across the care continuum. The expected impact is: 1)
understanding patient knowledge and gaps as a function of time/experience and 2) gaining insight into designing
human-centered and culturally sensitive patient education.
