Research Paper on Breast Cancer: An Aggressive Disease to Women's Health

Introduction

Breast cancer is an abnormal cell growth commonly in the breast lobules and ducts, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is characterized by the presence of lumps, which can be felt within the mammary glands as well as stiffness of the affected breasts. Like the other forms of cancer, the cancer of the breast has risen to be a significant threat to people's health, especially the females.

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This study aims to focus on the aggressiveness of this disease, in terms of spread and implications to the affected individuals. Women have lost their lives due to breast cancer in the United States and the rest of the world, mainly due to late detection of the tumor. The contents of this paper cover the background and significance of the research with the focus on existing literature about this subject. The study also brings into perspective the dangers that the society, especially the Afro-American, is looking at because of breast cancer.

Background and Significance of the Study

Breast cancer among women in the United States is rampant, with a rate of 1 out of 8 women likely to have invasive cancer in their lives. In the current year, approximately 268,600 new cases are expected to be identified for invasive breast cancer (BREASTCANCER.ORG, 2019). On the same year, non-invasive breast cancer is expected to infest 62,930 women (BREASTCANCER.ORG, 2019). The likelihood is much lower in the males and currently stands at one man out of 883 men. Narrowing scope to the African-American women, statistics indicate that the mentioned group have a high likelihood of succumbing to breast cancer, especially those below 45 years of age.

The above prevalence statistics indicate that women are in the grave danger posed by breast cancer. Black women living in America are the group in the deep end. This calls for mitigation measures to save women from more deaths arising from the same.

Purpose of the Study

Breast cancer is an acute problem which inflicts devastating effects beyond the borders of the United States. One of the rationales of having a breast cancer discussion is because of the frightening mortality rate associated with it. Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer among women worldwide, which causes hundreds of thousands of women deaths every year regardless of the developed or developing status of the nation. This is per reports from the World Health Organization. The United States, for example, is predicted to lose approximately 41,760 women in 2019 due to breast cancer (BREASTCANCER.ORG, 2019). The global mortality rate is high such that a woman loses her life after every 13 minutes due to breast cancer.

Breast cancer, like any other kind of cancer, is a longstanding problem, where a lot of energy, time, and financial resources are directed to its treatment. The women of African-American descent who are highly threatened, face the most severe situations treating breast cancer. On general comparison to their white counterparts, the black ladies come from lower-income families, considering people from the white race hold most of the regular salaried jobs. The black society has, therefore, struggled as its women are dragged down and into their graves by breast cancer.

The prevalence of breast cancer and its harsh effect among African-American women puts the future of healthcare in the United States to the test. The public will be keen to establish whether the health sector will meet its obligation of equal disbursement of services with disregard to race, skin color, or ethnic affiliation.

Theoretical Framework

The research is inspired by the Andersen healthcare utilization model, which illustrates the factors that lead to the utilization of health services. The model has a point of reference in several healthcare cases with regards to different diseases. In healthcare service utilization, the needs of the patient meet the professional system (Birgit Babitsch, Daniela Ghol, Thomas von Lengerke, 2012). The variables in the model can be predisposing factors, enabling aspects as well as the patient's needs. These variables are the determinants in the decision made on the health healthcare service to acquire.

Predisposing factors are aspects that compel individuals to seek medical assistance. They may include age and gender, or they may be social, for example, social status, level of education, attitudes, and convictions. For example, a fearful manner can prevent a person from going ahead to get screened. Fear is a predominant feeling among women who defy cancer screening (Janice Phillips, Marlene Cohen, Gloria Moses, 1999).

Enabling factors are a correlation between the financial reserves of an individual and the healthcare service providers. The financial capability of a person creates a demand for a specific health service. On the side of healthcare facilities, factors like proximity and quality of service influence the utilization of the facility by a patent. Enabling factors define the demand for healthcare services since they dictate the tendency to want the service versus being able to afford it.

Personal needs occur in two ways. Personal evaluation of demand for health services focuses on what the individuals feel and think about their immunity and body functional abnormalities. An individual can also choose to visit a physician for an expert examination to ascertain what healthcare service is needed for a specific condition at a given time.

The above concept and factors may be of aid in explaining the high prevalence and severity of breast cancer among African-American women.

Summary

Breast cancer is a dangerous health condition, with effects that dig deep into the soft core of both the individual suffering and the community at large. The most frightening aspect of it is the high mortality rate that cuts across the globe, regardless of the area's development status. Ladies with black African descent living in the United States are more at risk as compared to their white race counterparts in the same nation.

The longstanding disease has drained a lot of resources from the society, especially the African-American fraternity in the United States. As brought out in the Andersen healthcare utilization model, the African-American ladies are challenged as pertaining to the enabling factors. Enabling factors, as explained in the model, are inclined on the need for a particular medical service from a given facility versus the financial might to afford the service.

Apart from the fact that breast cancer is a noted killer disease, its occurrence index appears to be overwhelming, with an insane rate of occurrence in 1 out of a group of 8 women worldwide. On looking at the projections, the statistics reveal even more worrying numbers of expected infestations. The figure stands at a shocking 268,600 for women in the United States alone.

The Andersen healthcare utilization model captures the dynamics involved in the subject of breast cancer aggressiveness, especially among women of the African-American group. The predisposing factors, especially the inclined social ones like social status, have turned out to be disadvantaging the African-American women with breast cancer complications. Despite, America's mature democracy, low critical discrimination on the basis of race still exists. The African-Americans are the ones on the receiving end of this sidelining racial spat. African-American women, therefore, have a challenge getting the right medical attention, especially in a white-dominated like the United States.

The patient needs a segment of the Andersen healthcare utilization model addresses the mitigation of the disease. Under the aspect of the evaluated needs, a person suspecting occurrence of breast cancer should approach a doctor for expert examination. This move clarifying the patients' needs and what line of action needs to be given a priority, from a professional point of view.

References

Birgit Babitsch, Daniela Ghol, Thomas von Lengerke. (2012). Re-revisiting Andersen's Behavioral Model of Health Services Use: a systematic review of studies from 1998-2011. Psycho-social medicine.

BREASTCANCER.ORG. (2019). U.S Breast Cancer Statistics.

Janice Phillips, Marlene Cohen, Gloria Moses. (1999). Breast cancer screening and African American women: fear, fatalism, and silence. Oncology Nursing Forum.