Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs of Arab-American Women Regarding Inherited Cancer Risk
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs of Arab-American Women Regarding Inherited Cancer Risk Suzanne Mellon & Jacqueline Gauthier & Michelle Cichon & Adnan Hammad & Michael S. Simon
Received: 27 January 2012 / Accepted: 20 September 2012 / Published online: 10 October 2012 # National Society of Genetic Counselors, Inc. 2012
Abstract The increasing incidence of breast cancer in the Arab world, coupled with a relatively early age of onset, raises concern for the presence of hereditary risk factors in this population. However, due to potential structural and cultural barriers, Arab Americans make up the smallest percentage of individuals tested for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Syndrome in the United States. The objectives of this qualitative pilot focus group of 13 ArabAmerican women were to explore attitudes, knowledge and beliefs regarding hereditary breast cancer in the ArabAmerican community in metropolitan Detroit, identify barriers that would prevent women from seeking hereditary cancer screening/testing and determine who women would talk to about inherited cancer. Results indicated that cultural beliefs and personal experiences with cancer influenced the
S. Mellon (*) Saint Anselm College and Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University, 100 Saint Anselm Drive #1699, Manchester, NH 03102-1310, USA e-mail: [email protected] M. Cichon Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA M. S. Simon Department of Oncology, Karmanos Cancer Institute atWayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA J. Gauthier Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA A. Hammad Arab-American Community Center and Social Services, Community Health and Research Center, Dearborn, MI, USA
women’s perspectives on hereditary cancer risk. A high level of secrecy about cancer within Arab-American families was present, which may prevent accurate risk assessment and referral for genetic services. Other identified barriers that may influence hereditary risk assessment included stigma, fears and misconceptions of cancer. While these barriers were present, participants also expressed a strong need for education and tailored cancer risk information for their community. Keywords Arab-American . Hereditary breast cancer . Cancer risk . Cancer screening . Genetic counseling
Introduction and Background Breast cancer incidence is increasing in women throughout the Arab world (El Saghir et al. 2007). In 2012, there are expected to be an estimated 229,060 new cases of breast cancer in the US, with approximately 5 % of these cancers attributed to inherited mutations (American Cancer Society 2012). However, Arab-American women are an understudied group with a lack of population-based reported data on breast cancer incidence and mortality rates among Arab women in the United States (Darwish-Yassine and Wing 2005). This may be attributed to individuals of Middle Eastern descent being categorized as white without a separate ethnic category in population-based registries or that some
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