Family Beliefs About Diet and Traditional Chinese Medicine for Hong Kong Women With Breast Cancer

Simpson, Peggy

doi:10.1188/03.onf.834-840

Cited by 53 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Findings that cancer patients in Hong Kong favored Chinese herbal medication are consistent with previous studies [9,22]. The present study discovered that nearly half (49.93%) of the participants recruited from Western medicine clinics used Chinese medicine.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…The present study indicates that the use of Chinese medicine in cancer treatment in Hong Kong (57.1%) is much more than that in Japan (7.1%) [7], but lower than that in the mainland China (100%) [6]. As overseas Chinese often think of Chinese medicine as their first choice of CAM [22,23], this difference in the use of Chinese medicine may be due to socio-cultural difference among ethnics groups [22] rather than regional differences in medical systems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

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Cancer patients' attitudes towards Chinese medicine: a Hong Kong survey

et al. 2009

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BackgroundThis article reports a survey conducted in Hong Kong on the cancer patients' attitudes towards Chinese medicine treatment.MethodsCancer patients from three Chinese medicine clinics and one oncology clinic were interviewed with a structured questionnaire.ResultsOf a total of 786 participants included in the study, 42.9% used Western medicine only; 57.1% used at least one form of Chinese medicine; 5 participants used Chinese medicine only; and 56.5% used Chinese medicine before/during/after Western medicine treatment. Commonly used Western medicine and Chinese medicine treatments included chemotherapy (63.7%), radiotherapy (62.0%), surgery (57.6%), Chinese herbal medicine (53.9%) and Chinese dietary therapy (9.5%). Participants receiving chemotherapy used Chinese medicine (63.3%) more than those receiving any other Western medicine treatments. Spearman correlation coefficients showed that the selection of Chinese medicine was associated with the cancer type (rs = -1.36; P < 0.001), stage (rs = 0.178; P < 0.001), duration (rs = -0.074; P = 0.037), whether receiving chemotherapy (rs = 0.165; P < 0.001) and palliative therapy (rs = 0.087; P = 0.015). Nearly two-thirds of the participants (N = 274) did not tell their physicians about using Chinese medicine. Over two-thirds of all participants (68.2%) believed that integrated Chinese and Western medicine was effective.ConclusionChinese medicine is commonly used among Hong Kong cancer patients. The interviewed cancer patients in Hong Kong considered integrative Chinese and Western medicine is an effective cancer treatment.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Cancer patients' attitudes towards Chinese medicine: a Hong Kong survey

et al. 2009

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“…In TCM, “chi” represents a concept of energy; yin-yang imbalance in chi may result in physical vulnerability[52,53]. The uptake of alternative medicine is common among cancer patients, especially when their physical problems are not resolved with biomedical treatments[54-59].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physical distress and cancer care experiences among Chinese-American and non-Hispanic White breast cancer survivors

Wang

Adams

Huang

et al. 2012

Gynecologic Oncology

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Objective The number of Chinese-American breast cancer survivors (BCS) is increasing as a result of increasing incidence rates. There has been little research on Chinese BCS’ follow-up cancer care. This qualitative study aims to understand how Chinese-American BCS experience and cope with physical distress relative to non-Hispanic White (NHW) survivors. Methods Seventy-one BCS (37 Chinese immigrant, 7 US-born Chinese, 27 NHW) were recruited from the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry to participate in focus group discussions or one-on-one interviews about their survivorship experiences. All BCS were diagnosed with breast cancer at stage 0-IIA between 2006-2009, and had survived for 1-4 years without recurrence. Interviews were conducted in Cantonese, Mandarin, or English. Data analyses followed established qualitative methods of content analysis. Results BCS experienced pain and side effects from radiation, surgery, and hormonal therapy. Physical distress subsequently caused emotional concerns about recurrence or metastasis. Most BCS consulted physicians about their physical distress. Chinese immigrant BCS were less likely to have their issues resolved compared to NHW and US-born Chinese who were more likely to question physicians, ask for referrals, and make repeat attempts if their problems were not resolved. Some Chinese immigrant BCS turned to Traditional Chinese Medicine for relief or accepted the idea that physical distress was part of survivorship. Conclusion Chinese immigrant BCS may be at risk for greater distress compared with US-born Chinese and NHW BCS because of cultural norms that make them less inclined to express their needs to physicians or challenge physicians when their needs are not met. Furthermore, they may express symptoms in culturally unique ways (e.g., hot-cold imbalances). Further research is needed to determine how to best improve survivorship care experiences in this understudied population, with the goal of decreasing BCS’ physical distress and improving quality of life.

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“…Chinese American women have reported that cancer is caused by diet (Simpson, 2003), immoral behavior (Wong-Kim et al, 2003), fate (Wong-Kim et al, 2003), and accumulation of anger (Simpson, 2003). Similarly Korean Americans believe that diseases, including cancer, are caused from excess negative forces such as chronic anger, misconduct, negative attitudes, or stress (Kim, Menon, Wang, & Szalacha, 2010).…”

Section: Culture Health Beliefs and Health Behaviorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Breast Cancer Cause Beliefs

et al. 2014

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This study examined causal attribution beliefs about breast cancer and the influence that these beliefs exert on health behavior change among breast cancer survivors (BCS). Focus groups with Chinese (n = 21), Korean (n = 11), and Mexican American (n = 9) BCS recruited through community- and hospital-based support groups were conducted. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and translated into English for thematic content analysis. Three themes concerning beliefs about breast cancer cause common to all three groups included (a) stress, (b) diet, and (c) fatalism. Causal beliefs corresponded to behavioral changes with women describing efforts to improve their diet and manage their stress. Ethnic minority BCS adhere to beliefs about what caused their cancer that influence their health behaviors. Providing quality health care to ethnically diverse cancer survivors requires cultural sensitivity to patients’ beliefs about the causes of their cancer and awareness of how beliefs influence patients’ health behaviors post diagnosis.

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Family Beliefs About Diet and Traditional Chinese Medicine for Hong Kong Women With Breast Cancer

Cited by 53 publications

References 20 publications

Cancer patients' attitudes towards Chinese medicine: a Hong Kong survey

Cancer patients' attitudes towards Chinese medicine: a Hong Kong survey

Physical distress and cancer care experiences among Chinese-American and non-Hispanic White breast cancer survivors

Breast Cancer Cause Beliefs

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