Treatment-seeking behaviour of nasopharyngeal cancer patients in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

• Published in: The Pan African medical journal Vol. 29; no. 98; p. 98
• Main Authors: Waliyanti, Ema, Dewi, Fatwa Sari Tetra, Supriyati, Supriyati, Fles, Renske
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Uganda African Field Epidemiology Network 2018; The African Field Epidemiology Network; The Pan African Medical Journal
• Subjects: Alternative medicine; Breast cancer; Cancer therapies; Cervical cancer; Head & neck cancer; Health care; Health education; Health Education - methods; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Hospitals; Humans; Illnesses; Indonesia; Medical treatment; Mortality; nasopharyngeal cancer; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms - therapy; Patient Acceptance of Health Care - psychology; Patient Acceptance of Health Care - statistics & numerical data; Patients; Perceptions; Skin cancer; Socioeconomic Factors; Surveys and Questionnaires; Throat cancer; treatment seeking behaviour; Tumors; yogyakarta; Netherlands; Indonesia; treatment; nasopharyngeal cancer; behavior; grounded theory
• ISSN: 1937-8688; 1937-8688
• DOI: 10.11604/pamj.2018.29.98.12817

Nasopharyngeal cancer ranks first among head and neck cancer. About 60-95% of nasopharyngeal cancer patients seek for treatment at advanced stage. Attitudes and behavior of cancer patients in choosing healthcare is affected by the level of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. Surgery and treatment costs are also the reasons patients to late seek treatment. This study aims to explore what contributes the treatment seeking behavior of nasopharyngeal cancer patients. It conducted in the Yogyakarta, Indonesia. As many as 20 patients were interviewed using questionnaire. All interviews were done using Opencode 3.6. To ensure the data validity, triangulation approach, peer debriefing and thick description were done. it showed that there are five factors that affect the patients in seeking treatment: disease perception, medical services perception, medical expenses, external support and assessment of treatment process. This study may help to design health education programs to raise public awareness of nasopharyngeal cancer.