Abstract PO-080: Do African American informal caregivers’ breast cancer fear and cultural beliefs predict the dissemination of breast cancer misinformation and lower mammogram uptake among their social networks?

Introduction: African American women experience a disproportionate burden of breast cancer morbidity and mortality. For African American breast cancer survivors, members of their social networks often act as informal caregivers - offering social support and assisting with treatment adherence. They may thus serve as opinion leaders within their own social networks, given their personal experiences with the breast cancer survivor. Nonetheless, informal caregivers are not formally trained and may be vulnerable to breast cancer cultural beliefs and fear related to breast cancer. For this study, we examined: 1) if informal caregivers’ breast cancer cultural beliefs and fear were predictive of breast cancer misinformation shared among their social networks and, 2) if misinformation shared led to lower mammogram uptake among their networks. Methods: This is a secondary analysis of the Offering African Survivors Increased Support (OASIS) study, which assessed African American breast cancer survivors’ experiences with cancer care. To be eligible, subjects had to be: 1) identified as an informal caregiver by a survivor, 2) female, and, 3) of breast cancer screening age (50-74 years). Recruitment took place from Feb 2019 – Mar 2020. Subjects took part in 60-90 minute in-person or telephone surveys and received an incentive for participation. Validated scales were used in the survey tool to quantify cultural beliefs and fear, spread of breast cancer misinformation, and mammogram uptake. Results: 142 informal caregivers were recruited. All were African American, 56% were 50-62 years of age, 95% had a primary care provider, and 82% had a mammogram in the past year. Overall, 65% reported ≥1 breast cancer cultural belief and all reported breast cancer fear. On average, informal caregivers reported 1.55 (range: 0-15) cultural beliefs and a moderate level of fear (score=19.72, 8-32). 18.3% of informal caregivers shared breast cancer misinformation to their networks. Informal caregivers who reported ≥1 cultural belief had 74% greater odds of sharing misinformation to their networks (OR=1.74, 95%CI [1.32, 2.29], p Citation Format: Nyahne Q. Bergeron, Mona Strahan, Shaila Strayhorn, Anita Rong, Misael Villegas, Nancy Rayas, Stephanie Jara, Izalia Ruiz, Aditya Khanna, Dana Villines, Karriem Watson, Carol Ferrans, Yamilé Molina. Do African American informal caregivers’ breast cancer fear and cultural beliefs predict the dissemination of breast cancer misinformation and lower mammogram uptake among their social networks? [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Conference: Thirteenth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2020 Oct 2-4. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(12 Suppl):Abstract nr PO-080.