Revista de enfermería comunitaria y de salud pública

Abstracto

Health Seeking Behavior on Breast Cancer Therapies: Patients’ versus Providers’ Views

Laili Rahayuwati, Kusman Ibrahim, Wiwi Mardiah

Background: Reviewing the system of health care services, the development of health services in a country, like Indonesia, is strongly influenced by the education system based on health sciences, such as medicine, nursing, public health. Then, the output produced by the education system will be implemented in the form of health care, both hospital and community based.

Method: This qualitative study assessed the patterns of health behavior in seeking health cservices for treatment by the breast cancer patients, whether conventional, complementary, or traditional. This study assessed the different views, both from the health providers’ perspective and patients’s perspective. The subjects of the study involved the patients and health professionals coming from hospitals or directly in the community (community-based and hospital-based study) in West Java province.

Results: Based on the thematic analysis, it obtained the pattern of health care services option from breast cancer patients’ point of view, as follows: (1) generally, the initial choices of health treatment were traditional and alternative therapies; (2) If it is not effective, then the conventional therapy was chosen; (3) furthermore, the conventional therapy was performed in parallel with the complementary and traditional therapies. On the other hand, majority of health professionals expressed: (1) the importance of only-conventional therapy, and only a small number of them supported the complementary therapy; (2) the expectation that one day, an effective and appropriate therapy can be found, with less side effects on the breast cancer patient, by combining the conventional and complementary therapy.

Conclusion: In conclusion, despite some similarities, there are differences in the point of views between patients and health professionals regarding the pattern of seeking health care services of the breast cancer patients. In general, the patients tend to choose a therapy that is more comfortable to themselves, rather than making assessment on the conventional or complementary therapies. Meanwhile the health professionals consider the conventional therapy as the best and right choice for the breast cancer patients.