the-BA : SPA June 2008 press release

Embargoed until 00:01 Tuesday 3 June 2008

There is a need to remove the major ethnic inequalities which still exist in access to cancer services and outcomes, according to the latest edition of Science & Public Affairs. The first study of its kind has revealed that members of the UK South Asian community are far less likely than non-Asians to take up invitations for bowel or breast cancer screening, while other work has suggested that cancer diagnosis and treatment information should be tailored in a culturally sensitive manner as British Asian and White patients differ in their reactions to cancer diagnosis.

We need to understand how different ethnic groups cope with cancer and what beliefs they hold about the disease to avoid perpetuating the racial inequalities that currently exist with regards to cancer prevention, screening and treatment, says Karen Lord, Clinical Nurse Specialist at the Palliative Care Team, University Hospitals of Leicester.

In this month’s Science & Public Affairs, she discusses the results from two pilot studies that reveal British Asian patients are more likely to disbelieve their diagnosis than British White patients, and also that the two populations differ in how they would prefer to be told they have cancer. A two-year study by researchers at the University of Leicester, with support from research charity Hope Against Cancer, now seeks to build on this work, with a view to improving psychological support services for our increasingly diverse population.

While 31 per cent of White patients in the preliminary study exhibited denial about their cancer diagnosis, this rose to 48 per cent in the British Asian population. Asian patients were also found to have a more fatalistic attitude towards their diagnosis. Such beliefs may have a detrimental effect on a patient’s ability to cope with the experience of cancer, and denial was strongly associated with anxiety and depression.

In a second study looking at the informational needs of patients, it was discovered that Asian patients, in contrast to White patients, would prefer to receive the cancer diagnosis from their GP rather than the hospital consultant.

Over the next two years, 200 White and 200 Asian patients diagnosed with a variety of different cancers will be recruited from the Leicestershire Cancer Centre to further examine core concepts of distress and denial. They will be asked to complete a set of questionnaires over a period of nine months to investigate whether patients alter the way they cope over time and whether their use of denial as a coping strategy decreases. The study also seeks to understand the beliefs patients hold about the causes and curability of cancer – whether they differ between White and South Asian individuals, and whether cancer means different things in different cultures. For example, there is no similar word for cancer used in Gujarati.

‘This research will help us to focus and deliver information about cancer and its treatment in a culturally sensitive manner,’ says Miss Lord. ‘The findings of this study should lead to improvements in support services for Asian patients suffering from cancer.’

In a related article in this month’s magazine, Ala Szczepura, Professor of Health Services Research at the University of Warwick, comments on the need to promote racial equality for cancer screening. Her work has revealed that members of the UK South Asian community are only half as likely as non-Asians to take up an invitation for bowel cancer screening, and 15 per cent less likely to attend breast cancer screening. The research, which also highlights that uptake differs between South Asian groups, suggests that the inequalities are a result of cultural differences and language needs.

‘It is the first study of its kind, and highlights the need for a national audit system to examine ethnic variations in screening uptake and five-year survival,’ says Professor Szczepura. ‘Methods for improving uptake need to be identified.’

ENDS

For further information or copies of the latest edition of Science & Public Affairs, please contact:

Lisa Hendry, Press Officer, the BA
Tel: 020 7019 4946
Email: lisa.hendry@the-ba.net

Notes for editors

Please mention Science & Public Affairs as the source of all these items and, if publishing online, please carry a hyperlink to: http://www.the-ba.net/spa

1. Science & Public Affairs is a quarterly magazine published by the BA (British Association for the Advancement of Science). By joining the BA's network of supporters, you can receive Science & Public Affairs and be kept up to date on all the latest news from the world of science and society. Alternatively, organisations can subscribe and receive copies for their office or library. For more information (and to read the latest edition published online from 3 June), visit www.the-ba.net/spa. Advance copies of the articles mentioned in this release can be requested from the BA’s Press Officer.

2. The BA (British Association for the Advancement of Science) exists to advance the understanding, accessibility and accountability of the sciences and engineering. This means helping create a social climate in which science, and the organisations dependent on it, advances with the involvement and active support of non-scientists. We aim to promote openness about science in society and to affirm science as a prime cultural force by engaging and inspiring adults and young people directly with science and technology, and their implications. For more information about the BA, please visit http://www.the-ba.net.

3. In the latest edition of Science & Public Affairs:

• Cover Story:
‘Preparing the public for floods’
- Deeper understanding brings better engagement, says Heena Dave

• SPATalk
‘Should researchers welcome or avoid public engagement?’
- Dan Graur and Phil Macnaghten disagree

• Opinion

‘Science is messy’
- We should value public scepticism, argues Kevin Burchell

‘Upstream engagement’
- Tee Rogers-Hayden and Nick Pidgeon sound a caution

• Argument
‘Human extinction – so what?’
- Anthony O’Hear argues that the loss would matter
- Simon Blackburn maintains that it would not

• Exchange
‘Entertainment, achievement, enlightenment’
- Wendy Barnaby looks back over National Science and Engineering Week

• Sounding Off
‘Fact and faith: help the public distinguish!’
- Ruth Cronje opens the black box of scientific facts

• The Wakeford Watch
‘Humble pie and boy scout ethics’
- Tom Wakeford reflects on the GM saga

• SET in Parliament
‘The Human Embryology Bill’
- Ian Gibson, MP for Norwich North, joins the battle for science

• Features

‘Science in society budget axed’
- Martin Taylor looks to the future

‘Democratising science’
- Sarah Whatmore, Catharina Landström and Sue Bradley describe a new way to manage flood risk

‘Redesigning SET corporations for women’
- Sylvia Ann Hewlett on the way forward

‘Enthusiasm, concern and confusion’
- Saffron Townsend and Suzanne King digest the public’s views of science

‘Dialogue on Darwin’
- Patrick Middleton describes a new initiative

‘The world’s first open-science unconference’
- Jim Thomas explores the joys of SciBarCamp

‘Cancer screening: promoting racial equality’
- Ala Szczepura wants to ensure better uptake

‘How do different ethnic groups cope with cancer?’
- Karen Lord is finding out

‘Undergraduate biology is surprising’
- Beatrice Downing compares her experience with her expectations

‘Everyone’s a scientist’
- Pete Wilton reveals how people power can be the key to scientific success

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