Social needs such as transportation difficulties, food insecurity, housing instability, and financial strain contribute to poor health outcomes for patients with cancer. With a new one-year, $25,000 pilot award from the UW Carbone Cancer Center Support Grant, Division of Surgical Oncology Professor Dr. Heather Neuman plans to conduct some of the preliminary work needed to address these conditions for patients residing in rural areas, who are particularly impacted.
“Twenty percent of patients with cancer reside in rural areas, and when they experience health-related social needs while going through cancer treatment, these issues can result in treatment delays and poor adherence to treatment. All of this can negatively impact the patient’s overall survival,” explained Neuman. “Access to care is improved when large cancer care programs like the UW Carbone Cancer Center partner with outreach clinics in rural areas, but compared to large health centers we know that outreach clinics often have more limited access to resources that can address a patient’s unmet social needs.”
Interventions to address the health-related social needs of rural patients are needed, but researchers first need to better understand how these needs change over the course of cancer treatment and identify the barriers to addressing these needs in rural settings. To fill this critical information gap, Neuman and her research team plan to survey patients who are undergoing cancer treatment at the UW Cancer Center – Johnson Creek, a community clinic located 35 miles east of Madison that serves a largely rural population. Patients will be asked monthly over a 6-month period about their health-related social needs. The research team will also work with the clinic staff to identify key barriers that currently prevent the staff from helping patients address adverse social conditions.
“Closing these knowledge gaps will provide us with a foundational understanding of the patterns of health-related social needs in rural settings that evolve during cancer treatment,” said Neuman. “Once we have this information, we can design and test interventions that can be implemented at the right time for a patient based on their individual needs. Ultimately, this pilot work and the planned follow-on interventions could improve cancer care delivery and reduce disparities in cancer outcomes for patients living in rural areas.”