“We Cannot Talk as a Family”: Complexities of Survivorship Communication Among Hispanic/Latino Young Adult Survivors of Childhood Cancer, Parents, and Clinicians

ABSTRACT Background Young adult childhood cancer survivors (YA‐CCS) have an increased risk of treatment‐related health complications throughout their lives. Lifelong survivorship care is recommended, yet many YA‐CCS experience disruptions in care during pediatric‐to‐adult transitions and do not receive recommended survivorship care. Effective communication among YA‐CCS, parents, and clinicians is essential for YA‐CCS to understand their cancer history and survivorship care needs. However, families who use languages other than English, including Hispanic/Latino (H/L) families, often face barriers to effective communication and experience lower quality of care. With the long‐term goal of improving communication and health outcomes, this study aimed to characterize communication related to survivorship care among H/L YA‐CCS, their parents, and clinicians. Procedure We conducted individual and small‐group interviews with H/L YA‐CCS (age 18–25, ≥5 years post‐cancer diagnosis) and parents of YA‐CCS to describe their experiences with posttreatment cancer‐related communication, inside and outside the clinic. We analyzed qualitative data with applied thematic analysis. Results Twenty YA‐CCS and 18 parents participated at a median of 10 years post‐diagnosis. Our results identified factors that influence cancer‐related communication including family dynamics, language preferences, past experiences, and enduring emotional responses, which in turn shape YA‐CCS' attitudes and beliefs about health risks. Conclusions In this study of H/L YA‐CCS and parents, we observed a diverse range of communication preferences among participants. To promote more effective survivorship care, clinical communication should be tailored based on each family's informational needs, familial communication dynamics, language preferences, and attitudes toward survivorship health risks.