ArticleBMC cancer2021
Use of social service counseling by cancer patients: an analysis of quality assurance data of 6339 breast cancer patients from 13 certified centers in Germany treated between 2015 and 2017.
Article in BMC cancer, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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Authors and funding
16 authors at 9 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIntegrated social care may help to mitigate social risk factors in order to achieve more equitable health outcomes. In cancer centers certified according to the criteria set out by the German Cancer Society, every patient must be given low-threshold access to qualified social workers at the center for in-house social service counseling (SSC). Previous analyses have demonstrated large variation in the utilization of these services across individual centers. Therefore, this research aims at investigating whether SSC utilization varies regarding breast cancer patient characteristics and center characteristics presenting a unique approach of using routine data.
methodsMultilevel modeling was performed using quality assurance data based on 6339 patients treated in 13 certified breast cancer centers in Germany in order to investigate whether SSC utilization varies with patient sex, age, and disease characteristics as well as over time and across centers.
resultsIn the sample, 80.3% of the patients used SSC. SSC use varies substantially between centers for the unadjusted model (ICC = 0.24). Use was statistically significantly (P < .001) more likely in women, patients with invasive (in comparison to tumor in situ/ductal carcinoma in situ) diseases (P < .001), patients with both breasts affected (P = .03), patients who received a surgery (P < .001), patients who were diagnosed in 2015 or 2017 compared to 2016 (P < .001) and patients older than 84 years as compared to patients between 55 and 64 years old (P = .002).
conclusionThe analysis approach allows a unique insight into the reality of cancer care. Sociodemographic and disease-related patient characteristics were identified to explain SSC use to some extent.
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