Australia has one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) populations in the world, with over 6.1 million people living in Australia who were born overseas. The Australian healthcare system faces unique challenges in attempting to provide culturally competent care to CALD communities which often underutilise health and preventative services secondary to language and cultural barriers. This is particularly evident in breast cancer survivors, who now constitute the greatest population of cancer survivors. The Western Health Breast Care Nurse (BCN) Survivorship Clinic is conducted across both Sunshine and Footscray campuses. During the client consultation, which occurs 12 months post initial diagnosis, the BCN is able to assess a patient’s needs and refer patients to existing supportive programs and services at Western Health as well as to local community programs and primary care. At the conclusion of the consultation a survivorship care plan is generated for the patient’s medical record, with copies to the patient and their nominated GP.
The aim of this study is to identify and evaluate if there is any difference in the supportive care needs between CALD and non-CALD breast cancer survivors 12 months after initial diagnosis.
This is a retrospective cohort study. The survivorship care plans for 396 patients (63 CALD) who attended the Western Health BCN Survivorship Clinic between 2014-2018 have been collected and analysed for types and number of referrals made.
The study is ongoing and results will be discussed.
We expect to find a significant difference in the number and types of referrals in the CALD population when compared with the non-CALD population.