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    Beliefs and perceptions about the causes of breast cancer: a case-control study

    200236_131326_Beliefs_and_perceptions_about_the_causes_of_breast_cancer__a_case-control_study.pdf (185.0Kb)
    Access Status
    Open access
    Authors
    Thomson, Allyson
    Heyworth, J.
    Girschik, J.
    Slevin, Terry
    Saunders, C.
    Fritschi, Lin
    Date
    2014
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citation
    Thomson, A. and Heyworth, J. and Girschik, J. and Slevin, T. and Saunders, C. and Fritschi, L. 2014. Beliefs and perceptions about the causes of breast cancer: a case-control study. BMC Research Notes. 7: Article ID 558.
    Source Title
    BMC Research Notes
    DOI
    10.1186/1756-0500-7-558
    ISSN
    1756-0500
    School
    School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work
    Remarks

    This article is published under the Open Access publishing model and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ Please refer to the licence to obtain terms for any further reuse or distribution of this work

    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/8380
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    Background: Attributions of causality are common for many diseases, including breast cancer. The risk of developing breast cancer can be reduced by modifications to lifestyle and behaviours to minimise exposure to specific risk factors, such as obesity. However, these modifications will only occur if women believe that certain behaviours/lifestyle factors have an impact on the development of breast cancer. Method: The Breast Cancer, Environment and Employment Study is a case-control study of breast cancer conducted in Western Australia between 2009 and 2011. As part of the study 1109 women with breast cancer and 1633 women without the disease completed a Risk Perception questionnaire in which they were asked in an open-ended question for specific cause/s to the development of breast cancer in themselves or in others. The study identified specific causal beliefs, and assessed differences in the beliefs between women with and without breast cancer. Results: The most common attributions in women without breast cancer were to familial or inherited factors (77.6%), followed by lifestyle factors, such as poor diet and smoking (47.1%), and environmental factors, such as food additives (45.4%). The most common attributions in women with breast cancer were to mental or emotional factors (46.3%), especially stress, followed by lifestyle factors (38.6%) and physiological factors (37.5%), particularly relating to hormonal history.Conclusions: While the majority of participants in this study provided one or more causal attributions for breast cancer, many of the reported risk factors do not correspond to those generally accepted by the scientific community. These misperceptions could be having a significant impact on the success of prevention and early detection programs that seek to minimise the pain and suffering caused by this disease. In particular, women who have no family history of the disease may not work to minimise their exposure to the modifiable risk factors.

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