Analysis of Research

Analysis of Research

Effects of Socio-economic standing on Breast Cancer Survivors' Mental and Physical Well-being

Introduction

This article discusses the issue of the impact of the socioeconomic standing and socioecologial stress can have on the survivors of breast cancer in terms of their mental and physical health and the quality of life they experience post successful treatment. In the article, the authors, Ashing-Giwa and Lim, reiterate the effect of an individual's economic and sociological standing has been the subject of research over a number of years. The article in discussion takes into account a number of years. According to previous literatures, experts have revealed that the nature of job of breast cancer is another major influence on the individual's health and quality of life. Researches also report that Latin and African American breast cancer survivors have been on the receiving end of difficulties in life after treatment that ranged from moderate to stern. Some the issues that these survivors faced included the lack of opportunity for employment and most importantly, financial crisis. Survivors of cancer having a comparatively low socio-economic status are been witnessed to be far more likely to encounter psychosocial volatility (Singh et al, 2004).

Analysis of the Article

Ashing-Giwa and Lim point out that though there has been a growing interest among researches to assess the relationship between the socio-economic status and quality of life of cancer survivors, there is insufficient literature to support the issue. However, the issues that breast cancer survivors face have been highlighted prominently than those who survive any other form of cancer. Studies on the issue of health and quality of life have discovered that survivors face challenges in the form of pain, fatigue, depression, indecisiveness, strained married life and often in the form of discrimination and bias in employment.

The study conducted by Ashing-Giwa and Lim made of a cross-sectional design for the research. A sample of 703 individuals belonging to diverse ethnic backgrounds (African, Latin, European and Asian) was mailed questionnaires to fill. Individuals were also questioned through telephone. In order to highlight factors that indicated socio-economic standing, the questions had variables that included education, income of the household and nature of work. The primary variables of research were quality of life (physical and mental), socio-economic standing and socioecological stress. The study found that health-related life quality can be related to the socio-economic standing of the individual. The findings also revealed that higher financial standing was likely result in high quality of life. The results varied on the basis of ethnicity among participants. Socioecological stress was also found to be an important cause of changes in mental and physical life quality (Ganz et al, 2004).

The strengths of the study are as below;

Use of previous literature

Statistical analysis

Ethnically diverse population

Weaknesses of the study were below;

Factors such as willpower were not account for

Questionnaire may not also be a reliable instrument

Domestic Violence on Women in Taiwan

Introduction

The article debates over the experiences that Taiwanese women go through in terms of encountering domestic ...