Demographic Questions for California BC Research-Gomez
| Institution: | Cancer Prevention Institute of California | ||
| Investigator(s): |
Scarlett Gomez , PhD -
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| Award Cycle: | 2009 (Cycle 15) | Grant #: 15QB-8102 | Award: $430,988 |
| Award Type: | SRI Request for Qualifications-RFQ | ||
| Research Priorities | |||
| Disparities>Disparities: eliminating the unequal burden of breast cancer | |||
Initial Award Abstract (2009)
Developing standard survey questions for identifying and reducing disparities in breast cancer
Researchers at the Northern California Cancer Center and their collaborator at Harvard University will be working closely with scientific and community experts to develop a set of survey tools that will be used to gather data associated with breast cancer disparities more consistently. While scientists know that certain women are more likely to get breast cancer, be diagnosed with it at a late stage, receive sub-standard treatment, or die from their disease, they know less about the extent to which these problems affect some women more than others, which groups are more affected, and the reasons for these patterns. This is, in large part, because factors used to define population groups in the US are collected inconsistently. Thus, standardizing the way data are collected is a critical step in understanding breast cancer disparities and what can be done about them.
The standards for data collection that are developed through this study will help to ensure that scientists can effectively interpret and compare information they use to study breast cancer. These include factors such as an individual’s race, ethnicity, birthplace, migration history, language, community characteristics, disability status, socioeconomic status, gender, and sexual orientation. Additionally, the survey tool used in this study will be translated into several major languages and reviewed and tested by a wide range of experts, making it applicable to gathering data for research within many different populations. With uniformly gathered data, scientists can more effectively compare their results regarding why and how breast cancer affects some women more than others, leading to new knowledge about how the unequal burden of breast cancer in the population can be eliminated.
