Treatment trajectory of tobacco-related cancer patients: A study in Assam, India

In India, more than half of the total cancer cases are diagnosed at an advanced stage resulting in a high mortality rate. Early diagnosis and proper treatment may result in reduced mortality. Understanding the treatment trajectory followed by a patient is important for reducing diagnostic delay which may result in improved prognosis and treatment. With this background, the current study attempts to understand the treatment-seeking processes of Tobacco-related Cancer (TRC) patients in the state of Assam.

Explanatory Sequential Mixed design was adopted for the study. In the first phase of the study, 100 participants were interviewed using an interview schedule and then 11 in-depth interviews were conducted in the later phase to understand the subject matter in more depth.

The study revealed that the initial point of contact for seeking help for most of the participants was their family, which was followed by an alternative system of medicine including faith healers and quacks. Participants with a lower level of literacy and economic instability were seen to have approached family members, faith healers and quacks more as compared to the people with a higher level of literacy and economic stability who approached health professionals, friends, and others for initial help-seeking. Also, an association between causal health beliefs and treatment choices of the patients were discovered.

The study suggests addressing the beliefs and practices associated with cancer care (both modern and traditional) by engaging mass awareness. Need for designing cancer-education programmes for the general population was also advocated.