Breast and prostate cancer form two of the most common cancers in women and men worldwide, with estimates of over 1.5million new diagnoses of breast cancer and over 1million in prostate cancer in 2012 alone. Various studies suggest that there is unequal use of cancer-related services among people from different ethnic backgrounds in Western countries such as the UK and USA. Women from Black ethnic backgrounds for example, are more likely to develop difficult to treat, triple negative tumours while men from Black backgrounds are also more likely to develop prostate cancer. Some cancers have a family pattern, and where this is the case, a person's chance of developing either breast (or prostate cancer in men) could increase significantly. Scientists have discovered that some people carry a change in their genes that may contribute to this increase in risk of developing breast or prostate cancer. Of all the new breast cancers diagnosed, about 5-10% of these might be caused by these changes, while in men, this is up to about 1.2%. Despite all this knowledge, various health services have not adequately increased the number of people from different ethnic groups using them. Services such as genetic counselling and testing show that more people from Black, Asian and Chinese communities for example could make use of these services. One of the reasons for this difference could be the way different families are organised and what people think about having a breast or prostate cancer that may or may not affect other members of the same family. This PhD project is a research project that wants to find out the different beliefs people from different ethnic backgrounds and communities have about breast and prostate cancers that may or may not affect them and their families. I am interested in talking to both men and women who
1. May have spoken to a doctor or nurse about these 2 types of cancers or
2. Who are worried about a family cancer
3. Received any kind of treatment or surgery for a breast or prostate cancer that may be in their family. Getting this information may help doctors and nurses plan the services they provide so that more and more people will find them useful and appropriate to their beliefs and knowledge. This will greatly improve the health and reduce disease and death related to breast and prostate cancer in our communities. If you are interested in finding out more about the study or would like to take part, please contact Mavis, the researcher on the email or phone number provided. This study is under the supervision of the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, King's College London; and has received ethical approval. [photographs via Pixabay Creative Commons]
