Amy Farnbach-Pearson

Fat Planet: Obesity, Culture, and Symbolic Body Capital

The average size of human bodies all over the world has been steadily rising over recent decades. The total count of people clinically labeled "obese" is now at least three times what it was in 1980. Fat Planet represents a collaborative effort to consider at a global scale what fat stigma is and what it does to people. Making use of an array of social science perspectives applied in multiple settings, the authors examine the interplay of weight, wealth, history, culture, and meaning to fat and its social rejection. They explore the notion of symbolic body capital--the power of non-fat bodies to do what people need or want. In so doing, they illustrate the complex and quickly shifting dynamics in thinking about fat--often considered personal yet powerfully influenced by and influential upon the broader world in which we live.

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“Did I get into the twilight zone somehow?”: sexual and gender minority cancer caregiver experiences during COVID

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic created new challenges for cancer patients and caregivers. Little is known about the confluence of the pandemic and people with multiple marginalized identities, such as those in the Sexual and Gender Minority (SGM) community. Methods We conducted a mixed-methods pilot study using semi-structured interviews to elicit experiences of cancer among a diverse population of SGM patients and caregivers and a matched set of cisgender heterosexual (cishet) individuals. Here, we present qualitative findings focused on caregiver experiences as ascertained from the broader study. Results We discovered differences between SGM and cishet caregiving experiences, with SGM caregivers reporting less comfort in the cancer center environment; dissatisfaction with patient–provider communication; feeling excluded from their loved ones’ care; and increased social isolation resulting from the caregiver experience. SGM and cishet caregivers described the detrimental impact of the pandemic. Conclusion Our data suggest SGM caregivers experience additional burdens to cancer caregiving when compared to cishet peers. Although SGM and cishet caregivers reported challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, challenges appeared greater and more acute for SGM caregivers. Pandemic-related findings point to overall gaps in SGM cancer caregiver supports that may be remedied by additional research and targeted intervention development.

Abstract B066: Rejection of cancer identity among sexual and gender minority patients

For sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations, minority stress exacerbates the physical and emotional challenges of cancer diagnosis, treatment and survivorship; mitigating these effects will require improved understanding of SGM individuals’ cancer experiences both within and beyond the clinic. Among SGM cancer health disparities are increased stress surrounding diagnosis and treatment and poorer post-treatment mental and overall health. Emotional distress accompanying significant or chronic diseases such as cancer results in part from the threat illness poses to personal identity, often leading to disruption and subsequent realignment of one’s self-conception to a “new normal” as a cancer patient or cancer survivor. However, the process of aligning multiple stigmatized identities, as when SGM individuals experience cancer, is relatively unexplored. To this end, transcripts of semi-structured interviews with 11 SGM cancer patients and 8 cisgender, heterosexual (CH) patients matched for sex assigned at birth and cancer type were coded for indicators of health and illness in personal identity. Codes included (1) assertion of prior healthy behavior, (2) rejection of cancer identity, and (3) assertion of cancer identity; these were not mutually exclusive. SGM patients were less likely than CH peers to report engaging in healthy behaviors (exercise, dietary choices): 4 of 11 (36%) SGM patients did so, compared with 7 of 8 CH patients (88%). In contrast, SGM patients were more likely to explicitly reject self-identification as a cancer patient or cancer survivor: this occurred in interviews with 7 of 11 (64%) SGM patients but only 2 of 8 (25%) CH patients. Assertion of cancer identity – either through self-identification with a survivor label or intentional disclosure to reduce cancer stigma or obtain formal health accommodations – did not differ among SGM and CH patients. Five of 11 (46%) SGM patients and 4 of 8 (50%) CH patients identified as a cancer patient or cancer survivor in these ways. Notably for this sample, compared with CH peers SGM cancer patients were both less likely to volunteer a history of engaging in healthy behaviors and more likely to explicitly reject personal identity as a cancer patient or cancer survivor. This may indicate reluctance on the part of already-minoritized individuals to take on additional stigmatized identities, or may represent particular difficulty faced by SGM cancer patients in realigning their personal identities to accommodate their illness experiences. The ways individuals with cancer navigate personal identity following diagnosis and treatment has implications for cancer survivorship care: some aspects of cancer survivor identity are associated with positive outcomes, including improved mental health, more positive engagement with peers, and better quality of life. Understanding the ways cancer shapes personal identity among SGM patients and other minoritized individuals may offer pathways to constructive emotional processing of cancer experiences to reduce post-treatment cancer health disparities. Citation Format: Amy W. Farnbach Pearson, Shoshana Adler Jaffe, Lila A. Baca, Nina Dimauro, Kendal A. Jacobson, Miria Kano. Rejection of cancer identity among sexual and gender minority patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 15th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2022 Sep 16-19; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2022;31(1 Suppl):Abstract nr B066.

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