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Grant Details

Grant Number: 5R29CA064634-05 Interpret this number
Primary Investigator: Adler, Shelley
Organization: Univ Of California At San Francisco
Project Title: Womens Cancer Treatment Choices By Cohort and Ethnicity
Fiscal Year: 1999


Abstract

DESCRIPTION: The objective of the proposed qualitative anthropological study is to describe and examine the reasons for the use of unconventional and/or biomedical cancer treatments among 80 women with clinically-diagnosed breast cancer in San Francisco, California. The study population will consist of two age cohorts of women (35-49 and 60-74) representing three ethnic groups: European American, African American, and Chinese American. This study will investigate social and behavioral factors that play a role in cancer treatment choices, with a focus on life-stage comparisons and an exploratory approach to the influence of ethnicity. The study has three specific aims: (1) to determine the factors that distinguish unconventional cancer treatment users from non-users in the study population; (2) to explore and analyze the reasons for the selection of specific treatments (either biomedical or unconventional) or combinations of treatments (both biomedical and unconventional); and (3) to determine the different configurations of treatment combinations and the manner in which conflicting methods are reconciled. Data will be collected through a series of four in depth semistructured interviews with women recently diagnosed with breast cancer. The potential informants will be identified through a rapid case-finding service of the Northern California Cancer Center. Informants will be interviewed initially within approximately two months of diagnosis and three more times at 6 months, 18 months, and 30 months. The data analysis will be undertaken using techniques of qualitative content analysis. The Ethnograph, a social science computer software program, will be used to facilitate the management, sorting, coding, analysis of the text-based qualitative data.



Publications

Complementary and alternative medicine use among women with breast cancer.
Authors: Adler S.R. .
Source: Medical anthropology quarterly, 1999 Jun; 13(2), p. 214-22.
PMID: 10440030
Related Citations

Disclosing complementary and alternative medicine use in the medical encounter: a qualitative study in women with breast cancer.
Authors: Adler S.R. , Fosket J.R. .
Source: The Journal of family practice, 1999 Jun; 48(6), p. 453-8.
PMID: 10386489
Related Citations




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