FACTORS AFFECTING TREATMENT-SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OF CANCER PATIENTS IN THE NORTH INDIA REGION
Main Article Content
Keywords
Treatment delay, Treatment seeking behaviour, Cancer, barrier/factors affecting treatment delay.
Abstract
Context: Worldwide, the second leading cause of death is cancer. The burden of cancer can be decreased via early detection and right treatment and proper care of cancer patients.
Aims: To know the treatment-seeking behaviour of cancer patients and the factors affecting it.
Settings and Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted from January to December 2021 with 192 cancer-confirmed patients at the cancer registry centre at the civil hospital in Ambala cant, District Ambala.
Methods and Material: Patients were interviewed using a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire. The data was entered into an Excel sheet and analysed using SPSS.
Statistical analysis: mean and standard deviation were calculated. P value ≤ 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.
Results: Out of total 192 patients, 95(49.5%) were male and 97(50.5%) were female. The majority (63.5%) were in the 31-60 age group with a mean age of 52.46±13.051 years. (28.1%) cancer patients reported treatment delays for more than 1 month. Reasons /barriers for treatment delay were (79.6%) no idea where to go for treatment, (75.9%) family taking time to decide, etc.
Conclusions: it was observed that treatment delay was significantly associated with the cancer patients' education and occupational status. Private providers need to be sensitized in early screening of cancer and referral of suspected cases of cancer. Factors affecting treatment seeking behaviour of cancer patients in north India region
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Dr. Kapil Kumar
MD Community Medicine, Asmo, District Civil Hospital, Yamunanagar, Haryana, India
Dr. Deepmala Kamboj
Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics, Mukand Lal National college, Yamunanagar, Haryana, India
Dr. Anshu Mittal
Professor and Head, Department of Community Medicine, Maharishi Markandeshwar Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Mullana, Ambala, Haryana, India
Dr. Anil Ahuja
MD Community Medicine, Asmo, District Civil Hospital, Hisar, Haryana, India