Study on relatives of breast cancer patients: addressing risk-factors

Abstract

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignancy in women worldwide, with one million new cases confirmed each year. This study aimed at identifying the knowledge of patients’ relatives concerning the risk factors (RF) for BC. It is a descriptive quantitative study carried out in the Chemotherapy Technical Division of a University Hospital in São Paulo state, Brazil, from September to October 2006. Only female (30) relatives were included due to the fact that BC is more frequent in females. The major RF cited were family history for BC 33.3% (10), smoking 16.6% (5), alcoholic-drink consumption 10% (3), animal-fat-rich diet 3.3% (1). Other factors such as not breastfeeding, environmental factors, use of oral contraceptives and hormone-replacement therapy were mentioned by 10% (3) of the relatives. It was concluded that the relatives of patients undergoing chemotherapeutic treatment showed to have little knowledge concerning RF for BC. Hence, it is important to rethink the inclusion of the health education process in the family scenario. This issue reaches far beyond the simple transmission of information. Healthcare professionals and nurses in particular, must focus on these individuals’ social context, values, beliefs and needs.