“How is it going to help?”: Exploring Black breast cancer patients’ questions about biomarker testing to predict chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy

Abstract

Objective: Many Black breast cancer patients experience chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). Our study assessed Black breast cancer patients’ questions about a biomarker test that can predict likelihood of CIPN. Methods: Nineteen Black women who were previous/current breast cancer patients participated in focus groups. Researchers briefly explained CIPN and the biomarker test, and then participants were asked what questions they would have about the test and its use in treatment decisions. These participant-voiced questions composed the data for this study and were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Participants’ questions centered on six themes: reasons for the test, effect on timeline of breast cancer treatment, testing procedure, limits of test (including accuracy), research done to develop this test (including research participants), and concerns about personal information connected to the test (including DNA). Conclusion: This study provides an exploratory look at questions that Black breast cancer patients may have about toxicity biomarker testing use in breast cancer treatment decisions. Innovation: These findings provide a starting point for developing patient-centered approaches for integrating this precision medicine tool into clinical care. The methodological choice to generate participants’ questions (rather than answers to a question) led to robust, actionable data.

Keywords

• precision cancer medicine
• Black women
• breast cancer treatment
• qualitative methods