Centre for Genetics Education, Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards, Sydney, Australia.
Psychooncology. 2012 Feb;21(2):195-202. doi: 10.1002/pon.1884. Epub 2010 Dec 22.
To explore with Arabic-Australian patients and their communities, the cultural context of cancer, both sporadic and inherited, by examining their beliefs about its causes and the modes of communication about cancer with family, friends and the community.
The design is an ethnographic and qualitative interview study with thematic analysis. Arabic-Australian participants were recruited in two stages. First, patients who had attended a family cancer clinic in Sydney, Australia, were invited to participate. Second, participants from the general community in Sydney were recruited with the aim of either verifying or challenging the reported findings from the clinic sample.
A total of 38 interviews with 26 females and 12 males provided cultural descriptions of illnesses, including cancer, and its causes. The terminologies around cancer and a cancer diagnosis were believed to have more impact and generate greater fear in people in the Arabic community living in Australia than the terms used to describe a diagnosis of other illnesses. Despite this, those interviewed were aware of screening and community programs and were open to discuss their views about cancer with the research team.
Arabic-Australians are an important group in the community with unique culture-specific attributes that can affect communication about cancer in the clinical setting. Barriers to communication such as the negative feelings associated with the word cancer and the stigma it arouses must be acknowledged. Culturally competent clinical practices with this group include the incorporation of these belief systems into the communication process and avoidance of stereotyping.
通过考察阿拉伯裔澳大利亚患者及其社区对散发性和遗传性癌症的文化背景，探讨他们对癌症病因的看法，以及与家人、朋友和社区交流癌症的方式。
该设计是一项具有民族志和定性访谈研究的主题分析。阿拉伯裔澳大利亚参与者分两个阶段招募。首先，邀请在澳大利亚悉尼参加家庭癌症诊所的患者参加。其次，从悉尼的普通社区招募参与者，目的是验证或挑战来自诊所样本的报告发现。
共有 38 名 26 名女性和 12 名男性的访谈提供了对包括癌症在内的疾病及其病因的文化描述。在澳大利亚生活的阿拉伯社区的人认为，癌症和癌症诊断的术语比用于描述其他疾病诊断的术语更有影响，也更能引起恐惧。尽管如此，受访者还是了解了筛查和社区项目，并愿意与研究小组讨论他们对癌症的看法。
阿拉伯裔澳大利亚人是社区中的一个重要群体，具有独特的特定文化属性，可能会影响临床环境中对癌症的沟通。必须承认沟通障碍，例如与癌症一词相关的负面情绪及其引起的耻辱感。与这一群体进行文化上的临床实践包括将这些信仰体系纳入沟通过程，并避免刻板印象。
