By – Priyanka Rao(Research Scholar)& Dr Aswathy Gopi (Assistant Professor)
Department of Psychology, SRM University-AP( Amaravati )
New statistics from the World Health Organization show encouraging trends. India has achieved a five-year survival rate of 65.7% in cases of breast cancer. This demonstrates improvements in screening, diagnosis, treatment, and the modalities used. Despite progress in these areas, Indian survival rates fall below the levels seen in high-income nations where five-year survival commonly ranges between 85-90%. Many discussions focus on infrastructural improvements, innovative medical solutions, and policies. However, one aspect that goes beyond these considerations should not be overlooked.
The gap is psychological.
It is crucial to note that cancer cannot be regarded as entirely psychological. Nevertheless, mental processing affects decisions made prior to the emergence of diseases. Health behavior and choice precede medical treatment and can significantly impact health outcomes.
Normalcy Bias is one concept from psychology that may help explain this process. According to the principle, patients tend to interpret current events as normal experiences since complications did not happen before. In practice, the emergence of breast tumors may be attributed to a temporary hormonal imbalance. Any abnormality concerning skin changes such as “skin dumplings” is considered unremarkable. Abnormal discharge may go unnoticed because other activities take precedence. Such tendencies are problematic in view of the critical role played by early diagnosis in improving survival.This may inadvertently become harmful as it contradicts diagnostic efforts and any form of medical intervention.
Temporal Discounting is another psychological process that could be relevant to this topic. Under this effect, patients have a natural preference for meeting current obligations at the expense of future benefits. Diagnostic tests such as mammograms are associated with several requirements involving time, finances, transportation expenses, anxiety over possible negative outcomes, and more. However, the expected positive effects of undergoing screening will appear in the distant future. Therefore, awareness programs that rely on providing relevant data about the risks associated with cancer may fail to convince individuals to act. Even when adequate knowledge exists regarding health risks, behavioral inconsistencies persist. There is widespread awareness about the advantages of exercising, the hazards of smoking cigarettes, and the necessity of cancer screening.
Culture exerts great effects on breast cancer screening perceptions within the Indian community. There are several cultural insights that shed light on this issue beyond medical treatment.The first cultural aspect relates to the typical female caregiver’s role within Indian households. Women prioritize others over themselves. An example would include a mother who reacts promptly towards the child’s health needs while neglecting her health problems herself. This reflects the concept of caregiver identity prioritization whereby personal interests take second place.
Interestingly enough, some psychological attributes that are normally regarded positively may hinder good health practices instead. Psychological attributes such as selflessness, hardworking nature, and resilience often encourage positive actions. Paradoxically, they may become barriers to good health.Healthcare decisions in the case of cancer diagnosis often depend upon families rather than patients. Typically, health decisions involving Indian women are taken jointly with the involvement of the family, which can be viewed as an example of decentralized decision-making. This decision-making method increases the availability of healthcare due to increased resource mobilization; nonetheless, it leads to delays in making health-related decisions due to family discussions.
The issue of stigma is another important aspect. Breast cancer screening seems to be connected not only with health considerations but also with some complicated attitudes, personal fears that include the issue of femininity, attractiveness, marriage, work, fertility, dependency on others, and many more issues. These emotional considerations become extremely important and may prevail over the health considerations. Thus, emotional consequences can become a barrier for seeking health.Lastly, one of the important pre-treatment insights indicates that women with similar tumors may receive contrasting survival results. While their cancer biology is identical, other factors influencing decisions to seek health services vary dramatically.
These findings highlight critical questions regarding health policy beyond the improvement of medical treatment. Apart from “How do we enhance cancer treatment?”, policymakers may consider “How can we foster healthcare-seeking behavior in advance?”. This question represents behavioral sciences’ potential contributions. Reminder systems can utilize the concept of wellbeing of all members and stimulate women to conduct examinations. Sharing cancer survivor stories in communities helps reduce the fear associated with health screening procedures. Implementation intention techniques in primary healthcare centers can encourage women to engage in screenings. Asking women about booking appointments and accompanying persons can help initiate significant modifications in patients’ decisions.
Reminders with emphasis on family health may encourage more women to visit clinics for breast examination. Stories told by communities who survived cancer may reduce fear more effectively and increase uptake compared to statistics. Intention-based methods implemented in primary health care centers may help women schedule appointments for screening. Questions about their intentions to schedule appointments and names of persons they intend to bring along may encourage them to adopt systematic changes in their health-seeking decisions. Together, these methods demonstrate how subtle psychological intervention strategies can improve preventive efforts.
Consequently, WHO report provides valuable information.It goes beyond evaluation of oncology and cancer treatment services. Higher survival rates indicate effectiveness of cancer treatments as well as many other health-seeking decisions made by patients individually. Improvement in survival rates is a result not only of medical interventions but also the ability to overcome fear, combat stigmatization, prioritize their own health and access health services.
India can achieve higher survival rates through cancer research, innovation in medical care, public policies and many other interventions. Yet a critical dimension that may prove decisive will emerge once India recognizes the importance of one psychological aspect: health-related decisions prior to medical emergencies. Women who make healthy decisions before being diagnosed are likely to enjoy better survival prospects than those who delay seeking health services for any reason. Survival rates therefore reflect effectiveness of health-seeking decisions as well as medical care.
