Ethnic Differences in the Impact of Breast Cancer on Employment Status, Financial Situation, and Quality of Life

NCT01134172 | Active Not Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: 10-071
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 935
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 12

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to learn more about how being treated for breast cancer affects patients' employment, financial situation, and quality of life on a short-term basis and on a long term basis. Most studies of employment after breast cancer have focused on Caucasian women.This study will evaluate the impact of breast cancer on the lives of women from different ethnic groups.

Conditions

Breast Cancer

Keywords

Sociodemographic; Ethnicity; Work-related; Health system; QOL; Questionnaires; 10-071

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• To compare the impact of breast cancer on (a) employment status, (b) financial situation, and (c) QoL.

  3 years

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• To identify barriers to employment and correlates of employment status, financial situation, and QoL.

  3 years

• To develop the methodology to evaluate discrimination in the labor market using a validated instrument and to determine whether or not labor market discrimination is exacerbated by a diagnosis of breast cancer.

  3 years

Study Arms (2)

Breast cancer survivors

Women being treated for stage I-III breast cancer who were employed prior to this diagnosis will be recruited in their physicians' offices.

Behavioral: survey web-based or telephone interview

Comparison group

Peer controls will be nominated by participants in the breast cancer survivor group or recruited by community outreach and matched for age, language, and ethnicity. This cohort is no longer recruiting.

Behavioral: survey web-based or telephone interview

Interventions

survey web-based or telephone interview BEHAVIORAL

Patients will be asked to complete a questionnaire at baseline, and then one at follow up, 3-4 months after treatment completion. The patient will be contacted one and two years after the completion of their follow up questionnaire for a brief one-question survey regarding current employment status. A member of the study team will call a subset of patients who have completed both baseline and follow-up surveys to clarify responses to previous questions. Patients will be considered lost to follow- up if surveys A or C have not been completed two years from the participant's consent date (participants who enroll but do not complete survey A are not prompted for survey C). Deviations will not be filed until the end of the study, as there are opportunities over the course of study follow- up to collect previously missing information.

Breast cancer survivors

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 64 Years
• Sex: female
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

We will recruit participants from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), four of its community-based outpatient treatment centers, and four urban community hospitals and clinics that serve large populations of ethnic minorities in New York City. The MSKCC outpatient regional sites are located in New Jersey (Basking Ridge, Monmouth) and New York, with two in Long Island (Commack and Rockville Centre) and another in Westchester County.

You may qualify if:

• Breast cancer survivors
• Pathologic diagnosis of stage I-III breast cancer
• Paid employment (full time or part time) at time of consent or in the three months prior to diagnosis
• Age 18 to 64 years (inclusive)
• The ability to give informed consent in Chinese (Mandarin), English, Korean, or Spanish.at MSK, New York Presbyterian Queens and Queens Medical Associates At NYC Health \& Hospitals/ Lincoln Medical Center, patients must be able to give consent in English or Spanish.
• At the time of enrollment, participants must still be undergoing chemotherapy, undergoing radiation therapy, or planning surgery unless surgery is to be the only treatment modality. Those for whom treatment consists of surgery alone may have had their operation no more than 2 months prior to study enrollment. Participants need not have undergone surgical reconstruction prior to enrollment if the plan is to delay this procedure until after primary treatment is completed.
• Comparison group
• Paid employment (full time or part time) at the time of consent
• Age 18 to 64 years (inclusive) and within an age range that is 5 years above or below that of the nominating or matched survivor
• The ability to give informed consent in the same language as the nominating survivor
• Membership in the same ethnic group as the nominating survivor
• Not treated for cancer in the past year (other than non-melanoma skin cancer)

You may not qualify if:

• N/A

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center: lead
• The City College of New York: collaborator
• NYC Health & Hospitals/ Lincoln Medical Center: collaborator
• New York Presbyterian Queens: collaborator
• New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation: collaborator
• Queens Medical Associates: collaborator

Study Sites (12)

Memorial Sloan Kettering Basking Ridge

Basking Ridge, New Jersey, United States

Location

Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth

Middletown, New Jersey, 07748, United States

Location

Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center

Brooklyn, New York, 11206, United States

Location

Memorial Sloan Kettering Commack

Commack, New York, 11725, United States

Location

Queens Medical Associates

Fresh Meadows, New York, 11366, United States

Location

Memorial Sloan Kettering Westchester

Harrison, New York, 10604, United States

Location

Memorial Sloan Kettering at Ralph Lauren

New York, New York, 10035, United States

Location

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

New York, New York, 10065, United States

Location

Bellevue Hospital Center

New York, New York, United States

Location

New York Presbyterian Queens

Queens, New York, 11355, United States

Location

NYC Health & Hospitals /Lincoln Medical Center

The Bronx, New York, 10451, United States

Location

Memorial Sloan Kettering Nassau

Uniondale, New York, 11553, United States

Location

Related Links

• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Breast Neoplasms

Interventions

Interviews as Topic

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Neoplasms by Site; Neoplasms; Breast Diseases; Skin Diseases; Skin and Connective Tissue Diseases

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Data Collection; Epidemiologic Methods; Investigative Techniques; Health Care Evaluation Mechanisms; Quality of Health Care; Health Care Quality, Access, and Evaluation; Public Health; Environment and Public Health

Study Officials

• Victoria Blinder, M.D., M.Sc.

  Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: CASE CONTROL
• Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: May 27, 2010
• First Posted: May 31, 2010
• Study Start: May 1, 2010
• Primary Completion: May 1, 2026
• Study Completion: May 1, 2026
• Last Updated: June 26, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-06

Locations

US (12)