Multilevel model of stigma and barriers to cancer palliative care in India: a qualitative study

INTRODUCTION: Palliative care coverage and opioid consumption in India are relatively low compared with global data. The literature suggests commonplace concealment and collusion in withholding information, but these hypotheses lack evidence. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to develop an explanatory evidence-based model of stigma, communication and access to cancer palliative care in India that can be used to develop, test and implement future interventions. DESIGN: This cross-sectional qualitative study sampled advanced cancer patients (n=10), their family caregivers (n=10) and oncologists (n=10). Grounded theory procedures were utilised to analyse transcripts, and a theoretical model generated. SETTING: A tertiary teaching hospital in South India. RESULTS: The model explains how stigma associated with communicating a diagnosis of advanced cancer is enacted by treating oncologists, family members and community. This leads to patient expectations of cure and futile treatment uptake. Patients commonly only present needs with respect to pain, not within psychological, social or spiritual domains, likely due to the lack of patients’ insight into their diagnosis and prognosis. As a result of oncologists’ and families’ unwillingness to disclose the prognosis, and patient focus on pain due to their lack of insight, palliative care clinicians view their services as under-utilised, and patients perceive palliative care as a pain management service that is not ‘different’ from other clinical services. Advanced care needs and purchase of futile treatments lead to lost employment among families, increased family debt and high care costs, which are rarely disclosed due to their unwillingness to discuss their needs. CONCLUSION: Our novel theoretical model is an essential first step to ensure that complex interventions are plausible, with mechanisms of action that address the needs of relevant stakeholders. A family-centred approach with an oncology workforce skilled in communication and an enabled patient population could increase access to palliative care, and improved outcomes may be attainable.