Abstract P4-10-12: Treatment decision making, and strategies for coping with financial stress in Indian women diagnosed with breast cancer and their families
Authors: Alexander A , Kaluve R , Prabhu JS , Korlimarla A , BS S , Manjunath S , Patil S , KS G , Sridhar TS 
Published: February 2018

Introduction: In spite of rapid urbanization and modernization the family remains central in the socio-cultural structure of India. The individuals are enmeshed into this unit and tend to be interlinked financially, emotionally and socially. The head of this family unit tends to be a male more often than not. As is well known, despite recent attempts by the governments at the state and centre at providing health coverage for cancer through regional cancer centres, a majority have to raise the money for cancer care by themselves. We have examined the role of the family in treatment decision making and in the strategies employed to raise the money and cope with the financial stress imposed by a diagnosis of breast cancer.

Method: 378 women with breast cancer were enrolled into a longitudinal study at first diagnosis between the years 2008-2012, at two tertiary care hospitals in Bangalore, India. The median follow up as of May 31st 2017 is 78 months with only 2% loss to follow-up over the past 8 years. Follow-up was maintained by frequent meetings between a counselling psychologist (AA) and the patient and/or a family member. The frequency of meetings was monthly during the initial treatment and then quarterly over the next 5 years. Information on demographics was collected during the treatment phase and information on the psychosocial aspects was collected in non-structured interactions subsequently. This information included details of support structure, decision making, and financial arrangements.

Results: This is a predominantly urban cohort with 80% being urban. The median age of patients at first diagnosis was 55 years. Almost all of our patients (99%) had the support of one or more family members. We analysed the pattern of decision making for treatment and in half of all cases either the husband or the son were the decision makers. In an additional 15% daughters and other relatives were the primary decision makers. Approximately a third of women made the decision concerning treatment themselves, and these women tended to be college educated (51% vs 16%) and employed (53% vs 12%).

30% of the patients met the costs incurred through medical insurance plans purchased by the family. Another quarter of patients were able to meet the costs from their savings. 45% had difficulty in finding the money for treatment and 15% took personal loans while 30% had to sell land/gold ornaments or take loans against assets of these sorts. Only (3%) discontinued the treatment due to financial difficulties. As in the case of decision making those who had the financial resources tended to be more educated (41% vs 11%), and were employed (31% vs 21%).

Conclusion: The data from a predominantly urban cohort of breast cancer enrolled between 2008-2012, supports the general belief that in India the family remains the fulcrum of an individual during crises, and not surprisingly education and employment lead to both psychological and economic emancipation of women.

Citation Format: Alexander A, Kaluve R, Prabhu JS, Korlimarla A, BS S, Manjunath S, Patil S, KS G, Sridhar TS. Treatment decision making, and strategies for coping with financial stress in Indian women diagnosed with breast cancer and their families [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2017 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-10-12.