Longitudinal Dyadic Analysis of Psychosocial and Health Outcomes in Black Breast Cancer Patients and Their Informal Caregivers.

Introduction Health and psychosocial outcomes are often interdependent for people with cancer and their informal caregivers. However, few studies have examined interdependence among U.S. Black patients and their caregivers. In this prospective study, we analyzed whether Black women with breast cancer and their caregivers demonstrated interdependence in depressive symptoms and other outcomes over time. Methods Patient and caregiver data were collected via telephone surveys at three timepoints (baseline, two months, four months). Actor-Partner Interdependence Models (random-intercept cross-panel models in Mplus) were used to analyze depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiology Studies Depression scale; CES-D), physical and mental health quality of life, perceived social support, and health behaviors. We hypothesized patients and caregivers would demonstrate interdependence for these outcomes both cross-sectionally and over time. Results We enrolled 210 participants. All patients and 93% of caregivers identified as Black/African American; 70% of caregivers identified as female. Two-thirds (66%) of dyads did not live together. Mean baseline CES-D score was 15.0 (<em>SD</em> = 10.9) for patients and 11.9 (<em>SD</em> = 9.0) for caregivers. We did not find prospective interdependence for any outcomes. Dyad members were moderately correlated in overall levels (intercepts) of physical health quality of life (<em>r</em> = .25), mental health quality of life (<em>r</em> = .28), social support (<em>r</em> = .37), and health behavior scores (<em>r</em> = .33). Conclusion This study is one of the first longitudinal, dyadic examinations of outcomes for Black breast cancer patients and their informal caregivers. Although our hypothesis of prospective interdependence was not supported, we observed moderate correlations of overall levels of several measures. These results suggest that patients with lower social support, poor health behaviors, and worse quality of life may also have caregivers who could benefit from intervention.