“The disease is mine, the body is mine, I decide”: Individual, interpersonal, and institutional barriers and facilitators among survivors of women's cancers in Andean countries

ABSTRACT

Recent national cancer plans address high cancer mortality in Latin America, particularly in Andean countries. Little is known about which individual, interpersonal, and institutional facilitators and barriers persist, particularly from the perspective of cancer survivors. We conducted 15 semi-structured interviews with survivors of breast and cervical cancers during and after a Pan American Health Organization sponsored conference on women's cancers in Lima, Peru. We analyzed data using an inductive content analysis approach. Patients reported primarily psychosocial barriers and facilitators at individual, interpersonal, and institutional levels. Additionally, survivors provided recom-mendations to refine existing policy to improve the cancer care experience for patients.

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge JoAnne Zujewski for assistance organizing the conference and study logistics. We thank our participants for sharing their deeply personal stories.

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by US NIH Grant number R25TW009710 supplement; the National Cancer Institute's Center for Global Health and under Grant numbers R25CA92408, U54CA202997, and U54CA203000; and Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development research infrastructure grant, R24 HD042828, to the University of Washington Center for Studies in Demography & Ecology. YM was also supported by the University of Illinois at Chicago Cancer Center and the Center for Research on Women and Gender.