Department of Oncology, Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester, UK.
Clin Oncol (R Coll Radiol). 2012 Feb;24(1):4-12. doi: 10.1016/j.clon.2011.05.008. Epub 2011 Jul 7.
To compare knowledge about the outcome of cancer treatment and beliefs about the causes of cancer among British South Asian (BSA) cancer patients of predominantly Gujarati origin with the beliefs held by British White (BW) cancer patients. We also wanted to determine if these beliefs impacted upon the patients' mental health.
We administered a questionnaire about cancer beliefs to 94 BSA and 185 BW newly diagnosed cancer patients at the Leicestershire Cancer Centre. Using a Likert seven-item scale, we analysed patients' views on confidentiality, outcome and cancer treatment and 15 items about beliefs about the causes of cancer. Patients also completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire, Mini-MAC, Distress Thermometer and newly developed Cancer Insight and Denial, and Physician/Patient Trust questionnaires.
Most (232/279; 83.2%) believed cancer was curable. However, significantly more BSA (10.6% versus 2.7% BW P=0.001) believed cancer was incurable. Although most (86.4%) agreed that smoking can cause cancer, there was a widespread lack of knowledge of the importance of diet and obesity as contributing causes of cancer. There was, in general, an over-emphasis on pollution, stress and injury as important aetiological agents. There was a strong belief in supernatural involvement in the development of cancer among a minority of BSA patients. Twenty per cent of this sample believed that treatment, especially surgery, caused the cancer to spread and this was associated with significant depression in BSAs (P=0.019) and anxiety in both BW (P=0.006) and BSA (P=0.0134) patients.
Our results show that there is a continual need for education about the causes of cancer both in BW and BSA patients.
比较以古吉拉特语为主的英国南亚裔（BSA）癌症患者与英国白人（BW）癌症患者对癌症治疗结果的认识和对癌症病因的看法。我们还想确定这些信念是否会影响患者的心理健康。
我们向莱斯特郡癌症中心的 94 名 BSA 和 185 名 BW 新诊断癌症患者发放了一份关于癌症信念的问卷。我们使用了一个 7 项李克特量表，分析了患者对保密性、结果和癌症治疗的看法，以及 15 项关于癌症病因的看法。患者还完成了医院焦虑抑郁量表、患者健康问卷、迷你 MAC、痛苦温度计以及新开发的癌症洞察和否认、医生/患者信任问卷。
大多数（279 人中有 232 人；83.2%）认为癌症是可治愈的。然而，BSA 患者（10.6%）明显比 BW 患者（2.7%）认为癌症是不可治愈的（P=0.001）。尽管大多数（86.4%）人同意吸烟会导致癌症，但人们对饮食和肥胖作为癌症的重要致病因素的认识普遍缺乏。一般来说，人们过分强调污染、压力和损伤作为重要的病因。少数 BSA 患者强烈认为超自然因素会导致癌症的发生。20%的 BSA 患者认为治疗，尤其是手术，会导致癌症扩散，这与 BSA 患者的明显抑郁（P=0.019）和 BW 患者的焦虑（P=0.006）和 BSA 患者的焦虑（P=0.0134）有关。
我们的结果表明，无论是 BW 患者还是 BSA 患者，都需要持续进行癌症病因的教育。
