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Fear, faith and finances: health literacy experiences of English and Swahili speaking women newly diagnosed with breast and cervical cancer
Breast and cervical cancer are among the leading causes of cancer-related deaths globally. In Kenya, delayed presentation and diagnosis contribute to breast and cervical cancer mortality. The Kenyan government acknowledges the cancer burden with estimated 39,000 new cases diagnosed and 27,000 deaths...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Cancer Intelligence
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8831107/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35242231 http://dx.doi.org/10.3332/ecancer.2022.1350 |
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author | Kassaman, Dinah Mushani, Tayreez Kiraithe, Peterson Brownie, Sharon Barton-Burke, Margaret |
author_facet | Kassaman, Dinah Mushani, Tayreez Kiraithe, Peterson Brownie, Sharon Barton-Burke, Margaret |
author_sort | Kassaman, Dinah |
collection | PubMed |
description | Breast and cervical cancer are among the leading causes of cancer-related deaths globally. In Kenya, delayed presentation and diagnosis contribute to breast and cervical cancer mortality. The Kenyan government acknowledges the cancer burden with estimated 39,000 new cases diagnosed and 27,000 deaths per annum. Mortality can be reduced if cancer is diagnosed early and with appropriate treatment. Health Literacy (HL) about cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment is important in reducing mortality, but there is little understanding about HL levels, experiences of patients diagnosed with breast and cervical cancer and the contexts in which they make decisions. In this study, health literacy is defined as the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, communicate, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. This exploratory qualitative study investigated the HL experiences of accessing and using health information in women with any stage of breast or cervical cancer presenting at the Aga Khan University Hospital (private) or Kenyatta National Hospital (public) in Nairobi, Kenya. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews from a purposive sample of 18 women. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, and the Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative studies guidelines guided data analysis. The findings may aid development of patient education tools and determine effective ways of communicating cancer-related health information to improve the knowledge and health-seeking behaviours of Kenyan women. This project identified sociocultural beliefs and factors that influence how women understand information provided by healthcare professionals. Themes that arose included but were not limited to: fear, despair and agony at diagnosis, faith, social support, side effects, cancer-related stigma and financial burden of cancer as a barrier to getting information. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8831107 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | Cancer Intelligence |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-88311072022-03-02 Fear, faith and finances: health literacy experiences of English and Swahili speaking women newly diagnosed with breast and cervical cancer Kassaman, Dinah Mushani, Tayreez Kiraithe, Peterson Brownie, Sharon Barton-Burke, Margaret Ecancermedicalscience Research Breast and cervical cancer are among the leading causes of cancer-related deaths globally. In Kenya, delayed presentation and diagnosis contribute to breast and cervical cancer mortality. The Kenyan government acknowledges the cancer burden with estimated 39,000 new cases diagnosed and 27,000 deaths per annum. Mortality can be reduced if cancer is diagnosed early and with appropriate treatment. Health Literacy (HL) about cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment is important in reducing mortality, but there is little understanding about HL levels, experiences of patients diagnosed with breast and cervical cancer and the contexts in which they make decisions. In this study, health literacy is defined as the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, communicate, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. This exploratory qualitative study investigated the HL experiences of accessing and using health information in women with any stage of breast or cervical cancer presenting at the Aga Khan University Hospital (private) or Kenyatta National Hospital (public) in Nairobi, Kenya. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews from a purposive sample of 18 women. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, and the Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative studies guidelines guided data analysis. The findings may aid development of patient education tools and determine effective ways of communicating cancer-related health information to improve the knowledge and health-seeking behaviours of Kenyan women. This project identified sociocultural beliefs and factors that influence how women understand information provided by healthcare professionals. Themes that arose included but were not limited to: fear, despair and agony at diagnosis, faith, social support, side effects, cancer-related stigma and financial burden of cancer as a barrier to getting information. Cancer Intelligence 2022-01-27 /pmc/articles/PMC8831107/ /pubmed/35242231 http://dx.doi.org/10.3332/ecancer.2022.1350 Text en © the authors; licensee ecancermedicalscience. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Research Kassaman, Dinah Mushani, Tayreez Kiraithe, Peterson Brownie, Sharon Barton-Burke, Margaret Fear, faith and finances: health literacy experiences of English and Swahili speaking women newly diagnosed with breast and cervical cancer |
title | Fear, faith and finances: health literacy experiences of English and Swahili speaking women newly diagnosed with breast and cervical cancer |
title_full | Fear, faith and finances: health literacy experiences of English and Swahili speaking women newly diagnosed with breast and cervical cancer |
title_fullStr | Fear, faith and finances: health literacy experiences of English and Swahili speaking women newly diagnosed with breast and cervical cancer |
title_full_unstemmed | Fear, faith and finances: health literacy experiences of English and Swahili speaking women newly diagnosed with breast and cervical cancer |
title_short | Fear, faith and finances: health literacy experiences of English and Swahili speaking women newly diagnosed with breast and cervical cancer |
title_sort | fear, faith and finances: health literacy experiences of english and swahili speaking women newly diagnosed with breast and cervical cancer |
topic | Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8831107/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35242231 http://dx.doi.org/10.3332/ecancer.2022.1350 |
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