Journal article
A multilevel investigation of inequalities in clinical and psychosocial outcomes for women after breast cancer
BMC Cancer, Vol.11, 415
2011
Abstract
Background: In Australia, breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting Australian women. Inequalities in clinical and psychosocial outcomes have existed for some time, affecting particularly women from rural areas and from areas of disadvantage. We have a limited understanding of how individual and area-level factors are related to each other, and their associations with survival and other clinical and psychosocial outcomes.Methods/Design: This study will examine associations between breast cancer recurrence, survival and psychosocial outcomes (e.g. distress, unmet supportive care needs, quality of life). The study will use an innovative multilevel approach using area-level factors simultaneously with detailed individual-level factors to assess the relative importance of remoteness, socioeconomic and demographic factors, diagnostic and treatment pathways and processes, and supportive care utilization to clinical and psychosocial outcomes. The study will use telephone and self-administered questionnaires to collect individual-level data from approximately 3, 300 women ascertained from the Queensland Cancer Registry diagnosed with invasive breast cancer residing in 478 Statistical Local Areas Queensland in 2011 and 2012. Area-level data will be sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics census data. Geo-coding and spatial technology will be used to calculate road travel distances from patients' residence to diagnostic and treatment centres. Data analysis will include a combination of standard empirical procedures and multilevel modelling.Discussion: The study will address the critical question of: what are the individual- or area-level factors associated with inequalities in outcomes from breast cancer? The findings will provide health care providers and policy makers with targeted information to improve the management of women with breast cancer, and inform the development of strategies to improve psychosocial care for women with breast cancer. © 2011 Youl et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
Details
- Title
- A multilevel investigation of inequalities in clinical and psychosocial outcomes for women after breast cancer
- Authors
- Philippa H Youl (Author) - Cancer Council QueenslandP D Baade (Author) - Cancer Council QueenslandJ F Aitken (Author) - Cancer Council QueenslandS K Chambers (Author) - Griffith UniversityG Turrell (Author) - Queensland University of TechnologyC Pyke (Author) - Mater HospitalJeffrey Dunn (Author) - Cancer Council Queensland
- Publication details
- BMC Cancer, Vol.11, 415; 8
- Publisher
- BioMed Central Ltd.
- Date published
- 2011
- DOI
- 10.1186/1471-2407-11-415
- ISSN
- 1471-2407
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 2011 Youl et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
- Organisation Unit
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Health and Sport Sciences - Legacy
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99451279102621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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