Posters
Presenting Author Academic/Professional Position
Faculty
Academic Level (Author 1)
Faculty
Presentation Type
Poster
Discipline Track
Other
Psychology
Abstract Type
Research/Clinical
Abstract
Background: Systemic family interventions with Latino families that have a cancer patient have been suggested as effective and necessary, but few studies have focused on evaluating systemic functioning to design culturally relevant interventions. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to assess systemic functioning in Puerto Rican families with a cancer patient using the Spanish translated version of the Family Genogram Interview (FGI) that measures Bowen’s four emotional processes in nuclear family and family of origin.
Methods: Translation and cultural adaptation of the Family Genogram Interview in Spanish was done following a modified version of Erkutt and collegues (1999) dual-focus approach to creating bilingual measures. A purposive sample of fifty Puerto Rican participants, either a spouse, partner or adult children of a cancer patient and were recruited from an oncology hospital and a hospice lodge to participate in the semi-structured interview using the FGI Spanish. Interviews were conducted by five master's level clinical psychology graduate students and one doctorate level clinical psychologist and lasted from 30 to 60 minutes. Quantitative data analysis consisted of descriptive statistics of the four core emotional processes. Qualitative data analysis followed principles of Smith (2009) interpretative phenomenological approach aiming to explore in depth how participants made sense of their cancer experience.
Results: Internal consistency reliability suggested an acceptable reliability for the translated version of the FGI and descriptive results indicated higher presence of symptoms in a spouse or partner (M= 23.24; SD = 7.48), symptoms in family of origin (M= 25.52; SD = 6.67), focus on a child (14.79; SD = 5.58) and emotional cutoff in family of origin (M= 25.7; SD = 9.04). Qualitative findings suggested main concerns for participants were related to family changes surrounding illness and familial roles, consistent with Bowen’s core emotional processes. Prominence was given to focus on a child, were participants expressed concerns for their adult children emotional and physical health, and marital conflict, were tension between the emotional and financial support provided by the partner clashed with conflicts regarding illness management and the caregiver role.
Conclusions: Overall, this study provided empirical evidence on what was mostly discussed theoretically about Latino families with a cancer patient. These findings can help design appropriate systemic interventions to address changes in familial roles and the process of assimilating cancer in Latino families. Multi-family therapy interventions could be effective in addressing concerns surrounding illness for Latino families with cancer patients. They can facilitate change by resocialization, stigma reversal, and improved communication; families can help each other by “learning by analogy”, “intra-family competition” and “tunin-in”.
Recommended Citation
Velez Agosto, Nicole, "Systemic functioning of Puerto Rican families with a cancer patient" (2025). Research Symposium. 121.
https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/somrs/2025/posters/121
Systemic functioning of Puerto Rican families with a cancer patient
Background: Systemic family interventions with Latino families that have a cancer patient have been suggested as effective and necessary, but few studies have focused on evaluating systemic functioning to design culturally relevant interventions. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to assess systemic functioning in Puerto Rican families with a cancer patient using the Spanish translated version of the Family Genogram Interview (FGI) that measures Bowen’s four emotional processes in nuclear family and family of origin.
Methods: Translation and cultural adaptation of the Family Genogram Interview in Spanish was done following a modified version of Erkutt and collegues (1999) dual-focus approach to creating bilingual measures. A purposive sample of fifty Puerto Rican participants, either a spouse, partner or adult children of a cancer patient and were recruited from an oncology hospital and a hospice lodge to participate in the semi-structured interview using the FGI Spanish. Interviews were conducted by five master's level clinical psychology graduate students and one doctorate level clinical psychologist and lasted from 30 to 60 minutes. Quantitative data analysis consisted of descriptive statistics of the four core emotional processes. Qualitative data analysis followed principles of Smith (2009) interpretative phenomenological approach aiming to explore in depth how participants made sense of their cancer experience.
Results: Internal consistency reliability suggested an acceptable reliability for the translated version of the FGI and descriptive results indicated higher presence of symptoms in a spouse or partner (M= 23.24; SD = 7.48), symptoms in family of origin (M= 25.52; SD = 6.67), focus on a child (14.79; SD = 5.58) and emotional cutoff in family of origin (M= 25.7; SD = 9.04). Qualitative findings suggested main concerns for participants were related to family changes surrounding illness and familial roles, consistent with Bowen’s core emotional processes. Prominence was given to focus on a child, were participants expressed concerns for their adult children emotional and physical health, and marital conflict, were tension between the emotional and financial support provided by the partner clashed with conflicts regarding illness management and the caregiver role.
Conclusions: Overall, this study provided empirical evidence on what was mostly discussed theoretically about Latino families with a cancer patient. These findings can help design appropriate systemic interventions to address changes in familial roles and the process of assimilating cancer in Latino families. Multi-family therapy interventions could be effective in addressing concerns surrounding illness for Latino families with cancer patients. They can facilitate change by resocialization, stigma reversal, and improved communication; families can help each other by “learning by analogy”, “intra-family competition” and “tunin-in”.
