Breast Cancer Patients & Medical Caregivers

One of every nine women may be expected to develop breast cancer during their lifetime (Haller, 1991, p. 438). Therapy outcomes will vary widely among these women, as will the reactions of the individual women to the diagnosis, treatment, and outcome of the disease (Munkres, 1992, pp. 12011209). As breast cancer patients react to the disease and to the therapies, some perceptions, both positive and negative, will be extended to their medical professional care givers. Patient attitudes toward their medical professional care givers can affect the degree of trust and cooperation between patient and care giver, which, in turn, can affect the effectiveness of a treatment program. Patient attitudes toward their medical professional care givers, therefore, are significant. A problem exists with respect to the knowledge of those factors that influence the attitudes of breast cancer patients toward their medical professional care givers. This problem will be investigated in the proposed research study.

The purpose of the proposed research study will be to identify some of the factors that influence the attitudes of breast cancer patients towards their medical professional care givers, and to assess the strength of the relationships between these factors and the character (positive or negative) of the attitudes. Within the context of this study purpose, seven research hypothes

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breast cancer will be associated with generally positive attitudes by the patient towards her professional medical care givers. Patient acceptance of the diagnosis and reality of breast cancer has been found to result in greater patient cooperation in treatment therapy (Tait, 1991, pp. 1517). Review of the Literature The literature reports investigation of patient perceptions to undesirable medical outcomes (KoziolMcLain, 1992, pp. 501504). A variety of factors have been found to accept patient perceptions of medical professional care givers under such circumstances. Similar factors have been found to influence the perceptions of breast cancer patients subsequent to the completion of therapy (Ward, 1992, pp. 362366). Breast cancer patients develop unique psychological profiles (Gilbar and Florian, 1991, pp. 217226). Among the factors that affect these profiles the most are levels of uncertainty and anxiety (Wong, 1992, pp. 363371). Initially, patient perceptions and responses are related to the diagnosis of cancer, as is true regardless of the area of the body affected by cancer (Servodidio, 1992, pp. 247249). The literature also reports findings indicating that breast cancer patients' attitudes, including those dir
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Some common words found in the essay are:
GIVERS Statement, Gilbar Florian, Review Literature, breast cancer, care givers, medical professional, independent variable, professional care, medical professional care, professional care givers, 1992 pp, cancer patients, professional medical care, breast cancer patients, professional medical, medical care, associated positive, associated positive attitudes,
Approximate Word count = 1467
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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