Contents
Health Policy Response in The UK for Fighting Breast Cancer Among Women Below 45 Years
1. Abstract
The following research study involves analysing the impact of the health policy response in the UK for controlling the prevalence of Breast cancer among women below 45 years. In order to conduct this study, the qualitative method has been selected and secondary data will be collected from various sources such as journals, books, websites and credible online sources. The systematic literature review will be conducted from the selected data sources and these will be selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Thematic analysis will be used for data synthesis and the search strategy is based on keywords, databases and inclusion and exclusion criteria. Ethical consideration will be followed by using the appropriate sources that fulfil the criteria, giving credits to the authors and making sure that the result does not hurt any individual. The study will be beneficial for public health institutions to understand the drawbacks of the present policies and change them accordingly.
2. Introduction
Health policies that are surrounded on breast cancer are observed to be very crucial as early detection by the help of screening and other aspects have proven to be helpful to prevent women from catching this disease when it is in the most treatable form. Through the help of the health policies, the patients are being observed to experience better outcomes with the help of early diagnosis and state-of-the-art treatment (Cancer, 2021). However, it is evident that in the case of the UK there have been around 11,500 breast cancer deaths every year from the years 2016 to 2018. Additionally, breast cancer is considered to be the fourth most common cause of death that has accounted for 7% of the deaths by cancer in the year 2018. In the case of women in the UK, breast cancer has been the second common cause of death by cancer and there have been about 11,500 deaths in 2018. Additionally, death by breast cancer is common among females who are living in the deprived areas of the UK. Nevertheless, the mortality rates by breast cancer have been projected to fall in the UK by 26% between 2014 and 20135 with the help of health policies (Winter, 2017).
However, this disease causes huge economic burden as the direct health expenditures associated with breast cancer is based on hospital service and pharmacy cost which is very high (Cancer Research UK, 2021). Additionally, women suffering from breast cancer have been observed to have higher productivity loss due to disability and paid time off, which together enhances economic burden. As per the studies, it has been identified that the risks for breast cancer among women are due to various reasons and a combination of factors. One of the major risk factors is age and the rest of the factors that have been identified are genetic mutations, reproductive history, having dense breasts and family history (Marti, 2016).
3. Literature Review
As per the viewpoint of CDC (2021), over the last thirty years, it has been observed that major advances have been made in the field of cancer screening, treatment as well as management that has helped in enhancing the survival times of the people that have been diagnosed with breast cancer. However, despite the observed reduction in breast cancer mortality, it is evident that this disease is still the most common cause of cancer deaths among females residing in the UK. Exarchakou et al. (2018) stated that there has been the implementation of the National Health Service Breast Screening Programme, treatments for an up-to-date evaluation and improvement in the diagnostic techniques have helped to reduce the risk of breast cancer. As per the initial pilot study that took place in London it was indicated that the women who were attending the mammography screening led to cause a decrease in the reduction of the mortality rate by 39%.
Apart from this, Plescia(2013) stated that after the report provided by Calman-Hine in 1995, the first fully detailed strategy that was observed to tackle cancer in the UK was observed to be the NHS Cancer Plan that was introduced in the year 200. This plan was observed to set out the plan of the government for reform and investment and aimed at improving the prevention as well as delivery of care in teams and research. Additionally, as per the results of the UK National Health Service Breast Screening Program (NHS BSP) that was initiated in the year 1988 the women who were in the age of 50 to 64 years were told to attend mammographic screening every 3 years. In the year 2001, the age group was extended to the women of the UK lying in the age group of s 65 to 70 years and later it was increased to the women belonging to ages 47 to 73 years.
Maroni(2020) stated that in the case of the health policies that initiated breast cancer screening it has been estimated that with the help of these policies adequate adjustment/correction is made for women in the UK. It has also been identified that there has been a clear beneficial effect of the NHS BSP regarding the risk of mortality of women with breast cancer in the UK. Overall it has been stated that the health programmes or policies in the UK have been able to provide the women the expected benefit in terms of reducing the risk of breast cancer death among women participating.
The major strengths observed in the following studies is that it is based on the cancer cases that have been registered in the UK as per the English cancer registry data. However, one of the weaknesses and major gaps that have been identified in the literature is that there is little knowledge present regarding the impact of cancer policies at a national level. Additionally, most of the studies have been focused on specific interventions such as screening (Maroni, 2020). Therefore, the present research will fill this gap in the literature by evaluating the health policies that have had an impact on controlling breast cancer among women in the UK
4. Research Question
RQ 1. What is the impact of the health policy response in the UK for controlling the prevalence of Breast cancer among women below 45 years?
4.1 Research Objectives
In order to answer the research question, a literature search will be conducted and data will be synthesised from the studies.
5. Methods
5.1 Design
In the case of, research methodology framework, research design directs in selecting the key research methods and approaches for acquiring the data. The appropriate selection of the research design determines the collection of the data and its analysis. A systematic literature review has been selected for conducting this research study. In the case of systematic literature review, it is to be noted that connects the researcher to high-quality evidence that is observed to support evidence-based practices (Kumar, 2018).
5.2 Subjects / Participants
In the case of the participants that will be included in the studies to be reviewed, it is to be noted that it will be based on women who are below the age of 45 and are living in the UK. This group has been selected because it is aligned with the aim of the research study.
5.3 Inclusion / exclusion criteria
In the case of inclusion and exclusion criteria, they are based on describing the criteria for including or excluding studies from review (Mackey and Gass, 2015). It is to be noted that to select suitable data sources, there are mainly three criteria that will be used which arerelevancy of the data sources, the publication year of the data sources and credibility of the data sources. In this regard, the data sources that are published after the year 2010 will be included in the study and others will be excluded. The other criterion that has been applied in this research study is using credible sources that are academically authentic and the sources that are found directly relevant with identifying the impact of the health policies for controlling breast cancer. Furthermore, the sources published in the English language will be included in the research; while ones published in any other language will be excluded (Zangirolami-Raimundo, Echeimberg and Leone, 2018).
5.4 Data collection
For data collection, the researchers can either select a primary data collection method or secondary data collection method in accordance with the data requirement and nature of the research study subject (Engwa and Ozofor, 2015). Therefore in the present research study, the secondary data collection method for qualitative data will be used by the exploration of the wider range of literature databases to find suitable data sources. For the secondary data collection purpose, books, research papers, journals and authentic online sources illustrating the required information will be used by searching the required keywords from the databases that fulfil the inclusion/exclusion criteria.
5.5 Databases
The databases that will be used for the literature search consist of PubMed, EBSCO, CINAHL Plus, MEDLINE and EMBASE and other medical-related databases (Lam and McDiarmid, 2016).
5.6 Keywords
For accessing the databases, a range of keywords can be developed in this research study, which is breast cancer, cancer, impact, affect, control, prevent, UK, women, female, below 45 age and health policies.
5.7 Quality Assessment
In order to assess the quality of the studies used the findings of the study, limitations, abstract, overall question being addressed by the review and fulfilment of inclusion-exclusion criteria will be used (Carroll and Booth, 2015).
5.8 Data Synthesis
Data synthesis will include synthesis of study characteristics, analysing the common patterns and dividing the data as per thematic analysis (Guest, MacQueen and Namey, 2011).
6. Ethical Considerations
In terms of the ethical consideration of the present study, to maintain the credibility and authenticity of research, it is crucial for the research to conduct the research ethically. Incorporating ethics helps a researcher to avoid ethical issues that are raised in the research (Mikesell, Bromley and Khodyakov, 2013). Under the secondary research method, it is to be noted that only those studies will be considered that are similar to the topic and include relevant information, updated, and authentic in nature (Daniel, 2011).
In addition to this, plagiarism is another issue that is evident in the research study; therefore, no information will be copied that can help in eliminating the chances of plagiarism. In addition to this, the information that is collected from the secondary sources will be acknowledged properly by providing them in the list of references that are present at the end of the research and all the work inside the study will be cited (Assasiet al., 2014). It means that in the study antigenicity will be maintained appropriately. It is to be noted that it will also be ensured that the end results of the study do not cause any harm or violate the personal interests of the individuals, community, or certain groups (Daniel, 2011).
7. Significance
It is to be noted that the present study is crucial and significant because it is based on understanding the impact of the health policies related to controlling breast cancer among women. It has been identified that there is a gap in the literature regarding this topic and there are very few studies that discuss the impact of the overall health policies; therefore, the outcomes of the present study will be useful in the present state of knowledge. It will be helpful for future researchers to conduct studies on a similar topic (Bytheway, 2011). In addition to this, it is also to be noted that the present study will influence public health practice. The outcome of the study will discuss the positive as well as the negative impact of the present health policies. Therefore, public health institutions in the UK can understand the negative impact of the present policies and what is not going well as that new policy on this basis can be introduced or make changes in the present policies so that maximum number of women can be benefited from the health policies based on the reduction of breast cancer for the women in the UK below the age of 45 years (Pintea, 2010).