Paper Example on Thematic Analysis of White Women's Coping Strategies: A Literature Review

Objectives:

A search of the literature by use of formulated search strategy

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Conduct a thematic analysis of the findings of the selected articles

Methodology: For this research paper, six studies. The studies were carefully selected from different databases using Boolean Operators, and the data was then analysed using Crombie (1996) checklist.

Findings: various outcome were retrieved during the study

Conclusion: white women tend to cope relatively better compared to black women with breast cancer. However, there are many studies that have been conducted to address the disparities in copying with breast cancer among women based on race and ethnicity.

Keywords: diagnosis, intervention, ethnicity, race

Acknowledgment

I would like to extend my utmost gratitude to all the University staff and colleagues who have helped me to conduct and write-up my research paper. I also thank God for the mercies and provision of better health throughout my endeavor.

Acronyms

BC Breast Cancer

BCSBreast Cancer Survivor

PEO Population, exposure, and outcome

1.0 Chapter One

1.1 Introduction

Over half a century, breast cancer has been perceived as an ailment in which every affected woman was treated with absolute and disfiguring process of amputating the breast, removal of pectoral muscles, and a comprehensive axillary dissection. Currently, the condition among women is merely managed with just a minimal extraction of breast tissues and examining a small number of axillary nodes (Yoo et al. 2014, pp.811-824). Moreover, many of the breast cancer patients have been engaged in the treatment process and decision making; and they have had to pay attention to the social, economic, and psychological aspects of their medical care.

Additionally, ethnicity plays a significant role in the coping strategies of patients. For instance, African American women tend to have more prominent breast cancer mortality compared to their white women counterparts based on their varied prognostic and clinical factors and socio-economic elements (Yoo et al. 2014, pp.811-824). Moreover, timeliness has been perceived as an indicator of the quality of care and may facilitate such consistent disparities. African American women seem to show a significant delay in care that white women at various points during the entire treatment process such as consultation, diagnosis, detection, treatment, and even in aftercare management.

In the provision of care for breast cancer patients, it is needed that the health care management effectively assess biomarkers, tumor pathology, degree of the condition, and any other factor to enhance specified prescription for oncologic care as the treatments have become more tailored (Pisu et al. 2014, pp.3045-3052). Due to the prevalence of psychological, emotional, and sociological effects of breast cancer among women, a standardised evaluation to gather and analyse data on the impacts tend to be essential. The previous studies have assessed the connection signs and objective socio-economic factors in breast cancer patients. Nonetheless, his study has emphasised whether White women seem to cope better compared to Black women with restricted research among ethnic minorities. Therefore, this research aimed to explore the effect of race/ethnicity on the copying ability of breast cancer patients.

1.2 Focus Question and Rationale

Although the general mortality rate from breast cancer has been significantly reducing since the 80's, the reduction has been observed to occur much faster for white women than black women (Pisu et al. .2014, pp.3045-3052). The white women are perceived to be coping relatively much quicker due to disparities in social, psychological, and economic factors. What are some of the factors that could facilitate racial difference in the degree of coping from breast cancer? Nonetheless, the breast cancer condition seems to be a more prominent aggressive ailment in black women than in White women; such disparities may also represent social, cultural and economic barriers that unevenly impact on black women. During the treatment process, the patient needs to be engaged in the decision-making process; the breast cancer patient has to consent to the preferred treatment options. Parties have to sign an agreement to prove that the patients have the mental capacity to fully understand what is at stake before undergoing treatment. The medical providers criteria need to be followed because this will effectively address the degree of engagement from the family or an Independent Mental Capacity Advocate.

The advances in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment have dramatically enhanced the number of BCSs (Breast Cancer Survivors), thus the urge for the needs of survivorship.

Moreover, the environmental, biological, economic, and genetic factors may facilitate the variation in results for black women and white women throughout the breast cancer continuum and the rate of coping amongst women (Kang and Suh 2015, pp.1-8). Barriers associated with poverty may include the following: lack of health insurance, inadequate primary care services, and lack of health literacy. Some of the obstacles to coping with breast cancer may be associated with cultural and social factors like the public mistrust of the existing healthcare system, perceived invulnerability, and discrimination, or racial profiling. Therefore, the efforts to minimise disparities in breast cancer must address the social, economic, and psychological effects on women with breast cancer conditions, which tend to manifest differently amongst women in relation to their ethnicity and race.

The psychological, emotional, and sociological effects of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment amongst women may differ because black women are less likely to receive effective follow-up compared to white women. Caplan et al. (2014, p.27) reported that black women had more considerable challenges in scheduling follow-up appointments compared to White women, thus resulting in delays in breast cancer diagnosis and differences in coping strategies.

1.3 Aims and objectives

1.3.1 Aim

The aim of this research paper is to address and answer the question of what the psychological, emotional, and sociological effects of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment amongst women are: and to determine if ethnic background and race play a major role? The study will involve reviewing various relevant literature with the emphasis of formulating themes from the outcome to be applied later by other scholars.

1.3.2 Objectives

The following objectives will be achieved:

• A search of the literature by use of enhanced formulated search strategy
• Conduct a thematic analysis of the findings of the selected articles
• Highlight recommendations for future studies

2.0 Chapter Two

2.1 Methodology

This section will highlight more on the approach used in searching for relevant work of literatures to be reviewed based on the research question.

2.2 Introduction

The methodology illustrates the process of the literature review, showing the systematic procedure of how the six principal articles were chosen. The processes include synthesis of literature essential in creating outcomes that are relevant to the focus question. This research employed a qualitative method, which is mainly used in social sciences, in seeking to comprehend human conducts and social processes. The study was conducted via the application of inductive and flexible approaches to attain valid and reliable results as the determined research question was in perceiving the socio-economic and psychological effects of breast cancer in women and seeking to find out if the white women cope better compared to the African American women (Kang and Suh 2015, p.31). Parahoo (2014) determines that a qualitative method would be more effective as it sets out to explore phenomena from an individual's perspectives.

2.3 Search Strategy

The first stage in the study process was to solve the unpredictability and interpret it into liable clinical questions (Turner, 2015). After the selection of topics on psychological, emotional, and sociological effects of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment amongst women and the appropriate method of qualitative research were identified, it was critical for the question to be refined to enhance the targeted study. A useful acronym regularly applied to design qualitative questions was SPIDER (Sample, Phenomenon of interest, Design of study, Evaluation, Research type); it was preferred over PICO. Nonetheless, PICO was developed for questions with therapeutic interventions; thus, was an inappropriate method for this literature review.

2.3.1 Formulation of key terms

To begin an extensive search, keywords identified to help in the entire process. Keywords are a critical term that is associated with the topic under study and employed to search databases: this employed breast cancer, coping strategies, breas*socio, and economic impacts. '*' (wildcard character) was applied to enable the extraction of multiple words with the same root and starts with 'breas', such as breast cancer, breast diagnosis. However, various phrases, acronyms, and synonyms also popped up during the search process as a result of the differences in terminologies on particular databases and motivated by background reading.

Additionally, Boolean operators: 'OR' 'AND' and 'NOT' were effectively applied to unify the search terms to help in streamlining the results. 'AND' simplify the search by allowing all the search terms to emerge in the outcome; 'OR' widens the search and 'NOT' tends to restrict the search by deleting some of the selected keywords. The searching technique was ideal in sourcing evidence on the databases.

2.3.2 Sourcing the Literature

The next step was to enhance an adequately defined search strategy for the collection of data and to offer rigor in the study project as well. Data collection was managed using a subject that was particular to a given electronic database. The electronic databases had thousands of articles and have appropriate tools to help in the process of searching (Beck, 2012). Since there was no specific database that contained all the needed journals, some accessible databases were obtained from the university's academic online library.

2.3.3 Databases

The databases that were used include CNAHL, MEDLINE complete, PsycInfo and British Nursing Index, accessed through EBSCO host search platform, as this were found appropriate for the clinical search topics. The databases were used to access the non-reviewed articles, which were scholarly publications. CNAHL identified 121,642 journals, MEDLINE complete 293,178 journals and PsycInfo 67,246 journals.

The search engine Google scholar was used, and the Springer Online Journals complete was accessed through the university's library site to obtain some us...