Globally, breast cancer is second most common cancer among women. It is also the second cause of cancer related mortality in women in high-resource income regions after lung cancer in low and middle-resource income regions. Breast cancer is the leading cause of malignancy-related mortality among Nigerian women. Women in Southwestern Nigeria typically present with advanced stages of the illness making the survival rate very low (48%). Given the dearth of work in this direction in medical scholarship this study sets out to explore women’s health-seeking behavior among women with advanced cancer. The study applies the interpretive description (ID) method. The study participants were thirty women with advanced stages of breast cancer, defined as stages III in Ibadan, Nigeria. Data were collected through one-on-one, semi-structured audio recorded, interviews guided by open-ended questions and from a demographic information form individual participant completed in advance. Data analyses of interview transcripts were inductive. Descriptive statistics were used to illustrate the study participants’ characteristics. Result of this study showed that the health seeking behaviour of participants include engaging in self-medication by buying drugs from the local pharmacy, rubbing the wound with Vaseline ointment or Shea butter to soften the boil, seeking divine Intervention, going to herbalist/traditional healers and lastly by going to the hospital for medical care and secondly the factors influencing the health seeking behaviour of participants are stigma, lack of money, Fear, family and individual decision. It is therefore recommended that nurses listen to their patients and use every opportunity to replace their patient’s misconceptions with evidence-based alternative explanations and teachings.
- AGATHA | OGUNKORODE | . | ogunkorodeqo@abuad.edu.ng | +2349078129160, ESAN | D. | T. | esandt@abuad.edu.ng | +234(0)8062484864, OWOEYE | I. | D. | owoeyeid@abuad.edu.ng | +2348034252290 , ALADE | M. | I. | @ | +234, OJO | F. | T. | ojotolulopef@abuad.edu.ng | 08169195591
- Breast cancer; health-seeking behaviour; women.
- Lautech Paper 6-34744548