Health Literacy and Medication Adherence in Underserved African-American Breast Cancer Survivors: A Qualitative Study

The increased survival rate of breast cancer has brought attention to women who are beyond the diagnosis and treatment phases of breast cancer. Although research has been conducted to address specific medical and psychosocial needs of breast cancer survivors, there has been little attention placed on health literacy and medication adherence among this population. The purpose of this article is to present the findings of a qualitative study conducted with two focus groups of underserved African-American breast cancer survivors. Four themes emerged from the transcribed interviews: inequality of access to health information, acquisition of medication information, medication usage and adherence, and barriers to access to medications.