Breast Cancer Information Behaviours and Needs among Singapore Women: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Background: There is growing evidence on cancer communication and its impact on cancer-related health outcomes; however, little is known about how women gain access to and use breast cancer information in the multi-ethnic Asian context. This paper aimed to explore the breast cancer information acquisition behaviours and needs among Singapore women who attended a community-based health organisation for mammography screening. Methods, design and setting: Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 37 racially diverse, aged 50 and above women, who have received mammography screening within the past two years. The interviews were conducted at either the Singapore Cancer Society Clinic or participant's home. Results: Although cancer information scanning was more prevalent than information seeking (91.9% vs. 62.2%), those who purposively seek information exhibited a higher knowledge level of breast cancer. The most commonly cited sources for information scanning were friends, television and family, and for information seeking were the Internet, pamphlets from a healthcare organisation/ public authority, and healthcare providers. Singapore women were well-informed about the benefits of mammogram; however, specific knowledge, such as modifiable risk factors, reasons for different screening options and the trade-off between harm and benefit, was still lacking which led to confusion about screening. Conclusion: Breast cancer health educational materials should provide clear and balanced information to give women a more accurate or realistic expectation about mammography screening. Study findings provide important implications for breast cancer education and programs to move beyond simply raising awareness and craft specific informative messages addressing the needs of the target group.

What are the views of three key stakeholder groups on extending the breast screening interval for low‐risk women? A secondary qualitative analysis

“…In addition, NSFs and HCPs lacked trust in women to understand the changing programme, and the current study findings showed that many women did not particularly consider the harms of screening when deciding to attend mammograms. These findings are consistent with research that demonstrates that although most women adhere to screening guidelines, they generally do not know how they were developed and that there are screening harms 33 . Furthermore, research has shown that women require prompting to consider screening harms in low‐risk pathway scenarios, and so, addressing awareness and understanding of the harms is necessary for communicating low‐risk pathways to women 28 …”

“…These findings are consistent with research that demonstrates that although most women adhere to screening guidelines, they generally do not know how they were developed and that there are screening harms. 33 Furthermore, research has shown that women require prompting to consider screening harms in low-risk pathway scenarios, and so, addressing awareness and understanding of the harms is necessary for communicating low-risk pathways to women. 28 Despite heightened concerns from the professional stakeholders that women would not receive the change to low-risk pathways well, women in fact had concerns that were less severe than both the HCPs and NSFs.…”

Understanding Barriers and Facilitators of Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening among Singapore Women: A Qualitative Approach

“…Using gender nuances may simply be an easy excuse to hide the true reasons for non-compliance. That said, more publicity on the whereabouts and availabilities of screening facilities at the national level is needed (Lin et al, 2021).…”

Ethnic predisposition, risk factors and breast cancer presentation; a 10-year data. Single centered prospective cohort study from Karachi

“…Studies from other Asian countries, also reported significant rise of BC in their population. In Singapore, according to the statistics released by National disease registry(2021), between the years 2014 & 2018, 11,232 new cases of BC have been reported and ≥2100 females died of breast cancer, accounting to around 17.3% of cancer related deaths [ 17 , 18 ]. The data also pointed out that it is more prevalent among females from Chinese ethnicity but the worst 5 year survival rate was reported among Malay women(58.5%), with likely younger age at diagnosis, presentation at advanced stages and more aggressive tumor biology in contrast to other ethnic groups of the region[13] [ 18 ].…”