Family Ties: The Role of Family Context in Family Health History Communication About Cancer

Abstract

Family health history about cancer is an important prevention and health promotion tool. Yet, few studies have identified family context factors that promote such discussions. We explored relations among family context (cohesion, flexibility, and openness), self-efficacy, and cancer communication (gathering family history, sharing cancer risk information, and frequency) in a diverse group of women enrolled in a randomized control trial. Baseline survey data for 472 women were analyzed. Average age was 34 years, 59% identified as Black, 31% graduated high school, and 75% reported a family history of any cancer. Results showed that greater family cohesion and flexibility were related to higher communication frequency and sharing cancer information. Women who reported greater self-efficacy were more likely to have gathered family history, shared cancer risk information, and communicated more frequently with relatives. Openness was not associated with communication but was related to greater family cohesion and flexibility. Adjusting for demographic variables, self-efficacy and family cohesion significantly predicted communication frequency. Women with higher self-efficacy were also more likely to have gathered family health history about cancer and shared cancer risk information. Future research may benefit from considering family organization and self-efficacy when developing psychosocial theories that, in turn, inform cancer prevention interventions.

Cognitive-Behavioral Coping, Illness Perception, and Family Adaptability in Oncological Patients with a Family History of Cancer

“…If problem-focused or emotion-focused coping efforts are insufficient or inadequate, patients feel fear or worry regarding disease risk; family cohesion has positive influences on the patient's coping with the disease [13]. The results are important in shaping therapeutic strategies, pointing out the importance of family involvement in the patient's recovery program (Table 8) .…”

“…Thus, the family health history of cancer is considered an important instrument for prevention and health promotion. Better family cohesion and flexibility correlated with better communication between family members and better disclosure of information regarding the history of cancer [13]. In addition to a low level of information and education, poor family communication is also considered to be a barrier related to collecting data on the family history of cancer by health service providers [14].…”

Applying theory to characterize impediments to dissemination of community-facing family health history tools: a review of the literature

“…Interventions included in our review that added educational modules tended to show increased engagement, uptake, and interaction with family members. Indeed, a growing body of literature supports the notion that brief educational modules that emphasize the utility of FHH to health can improve self-efficacy in collecting the information and increase the likelihood that individuals will engage in FHH conversations and tool use (Thompson et al 2015;Rodriguez et al 2016). Results of a few studies suggest that educational modules may help improve diffusion and uptake of FHH tools.…”

From older to younger: intergenerational promotion of health behaviours in Portuguese families affected by familial amyloid polyneuropathy

“…9,11 Regarding older family members, literature has portrayed them as a critical source of family health information and important suppliers of emotional support and affection to younger generations. 12,13 The role of older generations in families with hereditary diseases has been recognised and is predominantly attached to their function of guardians or gatekeepers of the family's medical history; 14 this is so given their presumed privileged knowledge about illness-related information of ancestor members of the family to whom access is often not available (due to death or incapacity). However, literature is rather scarce in reporting other roles of older generations regarding health promotion and risk management towards younger generations.…”