Positive cancer care in Peru: Patient and provider perspectives

Abstract

Peruvian women experience high mortality from reproductive cancers, partially due to suboptimal cancer care utilization and experiences. In this qualitative study, we examined factors contributing to positive cancer care experiences. Our sample included 11 cancer patients and 27 cancer providers who attended the First International Cancer Symposium survivorship conference in Lima, Peru in 2015. We conducted thematic analysis. Emergent themes revealed that, for patients, individualized empathic care by providers was an important facilitator to positive cancer care experiences. For providers, the ability to provide such care depended on provider norms and facility infrastructure to support such patient-centered practices.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge JoAnne Zujewski for technical assistance and support of the larger project and Silvia Lara for her assistance with clinical empathy literature.

Disclosure statement

None of the authors have any financial interests or benefits to disclose.

Funding

Partial support for this research came from a Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development research infrastructure grant, R24HD042828, to the Center for Studies in Demography & Ecology at the University of Washington. YM was also supported through the National Cancer Institute under grant numbers K01CA193918 and R25CA92408. MB was also supported by the Fogarty International Center through grant 1R25TW009710-01.