Engaging South Asian women in breast cancer care: A public engagement consultation. This project is a collaboration between University of Hertfordshire and the East of England Cancer Alliance.
Introduction
Daksha Trivedi and Jai Jayaraman worked together with the Asian Women Cancer Group in a preliminary community engagement consultation to seek the views and experiences of South Asian women living with and beyond breast cancer. It informs future research and development around better access to meet the needs of this population.
Whilst the incidence of breast cancer is reported as being lower in ethnic minority women in the UK, current evidence still points to disparities in outcomes linked to ethnicity.
We know from evidence¹ and Breast Cancer UK that women from some ethnic groups:
- are less likely to attend breast screening compared to white women in the UK.
- present late for diagnosis resulting in poorer survival outcomes
- have lower breast cancer awareness and knowledge of symptoms and risk factors than white women.
- report higher levels of depression, anxiety and poorer quality of life compared to white women.
We need to better understand both the barriers and enablers to accessing breast healthcare in South Asian communities which this project seeks to address. Most importantly, we want to co-produce the output from this project by working together with the target community.
¹ T. Gathani, A. Chaudhry, L. Chagla et al., Ethnicity and breast cancer in the UK: Where are we now?, European Journal of Surgical Oncology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejso.2021.08.025
Project aims
The scope of the project was determined by those the project serves. It aimed to seek the views of South Asian women from AWCG around engaging with health care, access and breast cancer services and pathways. Allowing people with lived and real experience to co-produce both the scope and output of this project was essential.
- To identify barriers and facilitators to accessing breast cancer care for Asian women with breast cancer
- To co-produce the output from the project and make recommendations for improving the experience of Asian women experiencing breast cancer
Project activity
- Phase1: A preliminary consultation with AWCG members who have breast cancer
- Phase2: Identified the barriers and facilitators to accessing appropriate breast cancer care for South Asian women (via Focus Groups)
- Phase3: A feedback consultation of the findings from the focus groups to identify ‘culturally appropriate solutions’ for improving breast cancer care in South Asian women
Outcomes and impact
The outcomes from the ‘listening’ events was an understanding of the perspectives of the Asian communities with regards to breast cancer. This helped to focus next steps in the project, including an understanding of where and what change is most needed and how to achieve that change with the community utilising a co-production approach.
Findings will inform recommendations for improving breast cancer care for South Asian women and future research & development to improve outcomes.
Papers and resources
This project can be viewed in a case study format for easy accessibility
For more information about this research, read the ARC East of England blog
Who was involved?
- Principal investigator: Dr Daksha Trivedi, University of Hertfordshire
- Jai Jayaraman, Programme Manager East of England Cancer Alliance
Contact
Dr Daksha Trivedi, d.trivedi@herts.ac.uk
