Department of Public Health, School of Medicine, Kurume University, Fukuoka, Japan.
Department of Nursing, School of Medicine, Fukuoka University, Fukuoka, Japan.
Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2023 Oct 1;24(10):3381-3387. doi: 10.31557/APJCP.2023.24.10.3381.
This study aimed to articulate chronological characteristics of decisions made by Japanese women with breast cancer (BC) since their diagnosis.
Open-ended questions were asked using an Internet-based cross-sectional survey method. Qualitative content analysis was performed on 1,158 free descriptive responses obtained from 549 participants, which were categorized according to the content of decisions. Furthermore, 994 text data from 433 respondents to the quantitative questions were categorized according to the decisions' timing and examined in relation to medical and sociodemographic factors.
Whereas more than 60% of medical decisions, except chemotherapy, were made before initial treatment, approximately more than one-third of sociopsychological decisions were made only after the initial treatment. In decisions regarding medical care, only surgical decisions showed an association between timing and the participants' decision-making style. Meanwhile, in decisions regarding sociopsychological matters, socioeconomic status at the time of diagnosis, such as marital and employment status, along with the perceived importance of what was to be determined, were associated with the timing of decision-making related to employment, attitudes toward life with BC, family matters and financial affairs.
Women make various decisions depending on the amount of time since the diagnosis of BC. Generally, medical decisions are made prior to initial treatment, while these temporal characteristics are not observed for decisions relating to sociopsychological matters. Furthermore, socioeconomic status influences the timing of decision-making regarding sociopsychological matters. This finding can illustrate the manner in which to go through life with BC, and thus, help women who are unexpectedly diagnosed with BC to be more prepared.
本研究旨在阐明日本乳腺癌（BC）女性自诊断以来决策的时间特征。
采用基于互联网的横断面调查方法，提出开放式问题。对 549 名参与者中获得的 1158 个自由描述性回答进行定性内容分析，根据决策的内容进行分类。此外，根据决策时间对来自 433 名定量问题回答者的 994 个文本数据进行分类，并与医疗和社会人口统计学因素相关检查。
除化疗外，超过 60%的医疗决策在初始治疗前做出，而大约超过三分之一的社会心理决策仅在初始治疗后做出。在医疗保健决策中，只有手术决策在时间和参与者的决策风格之间存在关联。同时，在社会心理问题的决策中，诊断时的社会经济地位，如婚姻和就业状况，以及对要确定的重要性的感知，与与就业、BC 生活态度、家庭事务和财务事务相关的决策时间有关。
女性根据诊断出 BC 后的时间长短做出各种决策。一般来说，医疗决策在初始治疗前做出，而与社会心理问题相关的决策则没有这种时间特征。此外，社会经济地位影响社会心理问题决策的时间。这一发现可以说明与 BC 一起生活的方式，从而帮助那些意外被诊断出 BC 的女性做好更充分的准备。
