Abstract Background: Mindfulness-based interventions have been shown to alleviate psychological distress in cancer patients; however, few interventions have been designed and evaluated for underserved populations such as Hispanics/Latinos (H/L). Moreover, interventions that engage family caregivers may be especially relevant given the strong emphasis placed on family interdependence within traditional H/L culture. Here we present preliminary findings from a small study regarding the acceptability of a culturally adapted mindfulness-based supportive care intervention to reduce distress in H/L patients with advanced cancer and their family caregivers. Methods: The original dyadic mindfulness intervention is based on the Social Cognitive Processing Model and is rooted in the constructs of interconnection, mindfulness, and compassion and includes both intrapersonal and interpersonal exercises. The intervention is conducted over Zoom videoconference and consists of 4 weekly sessions. For the adaptation, we followed a systematic approach to improve the relevance and fit of the existing intervention for the H/L population. We recruited six H/L patients with advanced cancer on active treatment from a safety net hospital along with their family caregivers to participate in the intervention and provide qualitative and categorial responses regarding intervention acceptability. Results: The adaptation process sought to enhance alignment of the original intervention with the values of H/L patients and caregivers and behavioral determinants of mindfulness meditation engagement in this population. The adaptation includes surface structure elements wherein materials and research/intervention staff reflected the characteristics of the target population (e.g., availability of Spanish language materials, images of H/L men and women, bilingual and bicultural staff). It also incorporates deep structure elements by integrating and addressing issues of salience to the target population, including values and beliefs such as familism, spirituality, and fatalism. Patients and caregivers described the intervention as stress-reducing and that it helped with perspective taking and coping with the cancer experience such as when they cannot sleep or receiving chemotherapy infusions. Patients and caregivers stated that they continued with the practice on their own. All participants were “very satisfied” with the program, would recommend the program to a friend or family member, and indicated having benefited from the program. All patients “strongly agreed” that it was helpful to participate together with their family member and “strongly disagreed” that they would have preferred to participate in the sessions on their own. Conclusion: Findings from this work emphasized a desire for mind-body interventions in the H/L cancer population and provide strong support for the acceptability of the adapted intervention. These findings suggest that mindfulness may be an acceptable approach to address mental and emotional burden within H/L families going through active cancer treatment. Citation Format: Larkin Strong, Hilary Ma, Rosangela Silva, Kathrin Milbury. Acceptability of a culturally adapted mindfulness-based intervention for Hispanic cancer patients and their family caregivers abstract. In: Proceedings of the 18th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities; 2025 Sep 18-21; Baltimore, MD. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2025;34(9 Suppl):Abstract nr A027.
Strong et al. (Thu,) studied this question.