Holistic Cancer Care for Spanish Speakers

Mental health

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

With nearly 45,000 cancer diagnoses recorded in Los Angeles County annually, the need for cancer support continues to rise. Research has also shown that depression and anxiety are extremely prevalent among cancer patients. These mental health conditions create additional burdens during cancer treatment: affecting disease management, adherence to treatment plans, duration of hospital stays, and even survival rate. Navigating medical care for cancer is difficult enough and for Spanish-speaking communities facing barriers to care beyond language, such as low income and lower rates of insurance, identifying and navigating psychosocial care can be unnecessarily challenging. “I didn’t even have a primary care doctor and I knew I had cancer,” said cancer patient and CSCLA member Cinta Gomez (translated from Spanish). “And it was very hard because you find yourself like, ‘What is going to happen to me? I don’t have medical care. I don’t have insurance.’ And it makes you very, very afraid.”

CSCLA fulfills often-forgotten psychosocial needs for ALL who are affected by cancer through free, evidence-based support resources that reduce anxiety and depression, restore feelings of control, and increase feelings of hope through partner organizations embedded in and knowledgeable of communities’ unique challenges and by employing bilingual therapists.
“Patients and families learn from each other, from what is modeled by those who have been down the same road,” says social worker Debbie Cervantes. The Holistic Cancer Care for Spanish Speakers project will develop and implement a Cancer 101 orientation effective immediately upon cancer diagnosis to explain and connect cancer patients and families/caretakers to appropriate support services, including those offered by CSCLA and other local organizations. Awarded funds will support orientation staff time and operational costs—ensuring that mental health and social support resources are available to all Angelenos impacted by cancer. This will expand our proven Healing Equitably through Action, Resiliency, and Teamwork (HEART) Initiative, an inclusion-focused outreach and efficacy program through which we deliver culturally congruent and inclusive cancer care to LA’s diverse, historically under-resourced populations and therapy deserts. “Cancer brings a lot of havoc to you emotionally, mentally,” Cinta Gomez also shared. “This program has helped a lot for me to feel strong in the face of the adversities that it brought me.”

CSCLA’s developed cancer orientation can be shared with regional healthcare systems to promote systemic change and better support Los Angeles County’s newly diagnosed Spanish-speaking cancer patients for years to come. This project will also serve as a foundation to expand our no-cost cancer support services to other language- and identity-specific populations. During the grant period, we aim to rent a new space in Downtown Los Angeles to provide more accessible in-person psychosocial support for traditionally underserved cancer patients and families, including our Spanish-speaking communities, as well as those who are of low income, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and people of color. Ultimately, we plan to use learnings from this project to create an informal community coalition that provides no-cost holistic, evidence-based psychosocial cancer care infrastructure—further strengthening the support network for Los Angeles’ diverse cancer patients, survivors, and loved ones.

We anticipate the Holistic Cancer Care for Spanish Speakers project will directly serve at least 500 unduplicated Spanish-speaking participants through orientation, mental health, and social support activities during the 2024-2025 grant period. This represents an estimated 40% of the 1,300 individuals to be served by the larger HEART Initiative. For all our programs, CSCLA carefully records attendance for each group, class, activity, and session, as well as participant demographics. Using standardized surveys conducted annually, we also measure self-reported changes in participants’ stress, depression, and anxiety levels, as well as their knowledge of and ability to manage their disease. Because of CSCLA’s support, in 2023, 87% of participants reported an improved quality of life, 100% felt more empowered to manage their illness, and 93% gained information to better manage their treatment.