Running from Cancer: How Cancer of a Loved One Impacts Breast Cancer Prevention Decisions

• In Event: 480 - Section on Medical Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 06. Decision-making and Health

Abstract

In-depth qualitative data documenting breast cancer prevention decision making from the perspectives of women at elevated risk reveal that the degree and type of a woman’s prior exposure to cancer impact her perceptions of risk and her prevention decisions. The process of deciding whether to undertake surgical, medical, or surveillance-based prevention is substantially different in women who have and have not had close personal experience with the cancer of a loved one. Interview data reveal four distinct groups of women at risk. Women who have not experienced cancer close up often process breast cancer risk as abstract and prevention as a purposeful, non-emotional process. A second group of women perceives themselves to be at risk for any type cancer, and pursues very general prevention strategies. Women who have experienced the deaths of one or more loved ones fear that they are likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer eventually, and express strong motivation and willingness to undertake definitive interventions such as prophylactic surgeries and chemoprevention. Women whose loved ones have survived and thrived after a cancer diagnosis are more likely to see breast cancer as a challenge they may have to face in the future, and are motivated to set the stage for treatment success using careful surveillance methods – screening tests and physician checks – that will allow them to be diagnosed as early as possible.

Authors

• Tasleem Juana Padamsee, College of Public Health, Ohio State University

• Anna V. Muraveva, Ohio State University

• Celia Emily Wills, The Ohio State University

• Lisa Diane Yee, Ohio State University

• Electra Diane Paskett, Ohio State University