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. 2015 Aug;37(8):1081-99.
doi: 10.1177/0193945914541518. Epub 2014 Jul 7.

Breast Cancer Cause Beliefs: Chinese, Korean, and Mexican American Breast Cancer Survivors

Patricia Gonzalez  1 , Jung-Won Lim  2 , Ming Wang-Letzkus  3 , Katrina F Flores  4 , Kristi M Allen  4 , Sheila F Castañeda  4 , Gregory A Talavera  4
Affiliations

Breast Cancer Cause Beliefs: Chinese, Korean, and Mexican American Breast Cancer Survivors

Patricia Gonzalez et al. West J Nurs Res. 2015 Aug.

Abstract

This study examined causal attribution beliefs about breast cancer and the influence that these beliefs exert on health behavior change among breast cancer survivors (BCS). Focus groups with Chinese (n = 21), Korean (n = 11), and Mexican American (n = 9) BCS recruited through community- and hospital-based support groups were conducted. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and translated into English for thematic content analysis. Three themes concerning beliefs about breast cancer cause common to all three groups included (a) stress, (b) diet, and (c) fatalism. Causal beliefs corresponded to behavioral changes with women describing efforts to improve their diet and manage their stress. Ethnic minority BCS adhere to beliefs about what caused their cancer that influence their health behaviors. Providing quality health care to ethnically diverse cancer survivors requires cultural sensitivity to patients' beliefs about the causes of their cancer and awareness of how beliefs influence patients' health behaviors post diagnosis.

Keywords: breast cancer; cancer survivorship; cultural beliefs; ethnic minority survivors; health behaviors.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

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