Characterizing factors influencing adherence to surgery and chemotherapy amongst women suffering from breast cancer in Mbingo Baptist Hospital Cameroon

INTRODUCTION: Breast cancer (BC) is the most prominent cancer in females and is cited as a leading cause of cancer-related mortality in women worldwide. We aimed to determine factors influencing adherence to surgery and chemotherapy in women with BC in Mbingo Baptist Hospital (MBH). METHODS: we conducted a cross-sectional study in the MBH-Cameroon. Purposeful sampling was used to select participants for investigation. A structured questionnaire was applied to 82 women on chemotherapy in the oncology unit. Socio-demographic, clinical, and therapeutic data were collected from participants. The Morisky Medication Scale (MMS) was used to assess the patient's motivation and knowledge while the Adherence Starts with Knowledge (ASK12) questionnaire was used to measure the patient's barriers to treatment. SPSS was used for data analysis. RESULTS: the mean age was 46.37 (SD 11 years). Most participants (67.1%) were in the group of (25-50 years). The majority (75.6%) of respondents attended at least primary school. The results showed that adherence to surgery and chemotherapy is low 44% and 56.1% respectively, and this was greatly influenced by treatment delay (P = 0.034), missed chemotherapy dose without medical indication (P=0.029), patient's motivation, and knowledge towards their disease and treatment (P=0.0001 and P=0.0001), respectively. CONCLUSION: our results revealed that adherence to surgery and chemotherapy among women with BC in MBH is low and is driven by the patient´s motivation, knowledge about the disease, and treatment.