Table 1.
Demographics of study participants (N = 200)
| Characteristics | N (%) or mean ± SD |
|---|---|
| Age | 55.2 ± 11.1 |
| Sex | |
| Male | 107 (53.5%) |
| Female | 93 (46.5%) |
| Marital status | |
| Married | 171 (85.5%) |
| Separated, widowed, divorced, never married | 29 (14.5%) |
| Years of education received | 9.8 ± 3.4 |
| Having a religious affiliation | 94 (47.0%) |
| Cancer type | |
| Breast cancer | 45 (22.5%) |
| Lung cancer | 44 (22.0%) |
| Nasopharyngeal cancer | 21 (10.5%) |
| Colorectal cancer | 20 (10.0%) |
| Other cancers a | 70 (35.0%) |
| Financial distress | 4.1 ± 2.0 |
| Accurate awareness about disease severity (i.e. being at advanced stage) | |
| Aware | 103 (51.5%) |
| Not aware | 97 (48.5%) |
| Perceived reasons for cancer | |
| Old age | 158 (79.0%) |
| Smoking | 109 (54.5%) |
| Alcohol consumption | 102 (51.0%) |
| God’s will | 82 (41.0%) |
| Stress | 44 (22.0%) |
| Chewing betel nut/tobacco | 33 (16.5%) |
| Being overweight | 21 (10.5%) |
| Previous bad deeds | 13 (6.5%) |
| Other reasons b | 15 (7.5%) |
| Perceived stigma | |
| Prevalence | 158 (79.0%) |
| Score | 20.5 ± 18.0 |
| Prevalence of behavioural self-blame | 112 (56.3%) |
| Prevalence of characterological self-blame | 124 (62.3%) |
| Depression (CES-D) | |
| Patients with CES-D above 16 | 133 (66.5%) |
| Score | 20.2 ± 9.5 |
| Emotional well-being | 13.3 ± 5.6 |
| Social well-being | 21.6 ± 4.5 |
| Utilization of mental health services | |
| Ever used | 6 (3.0%) |
| Never used | 174 (87.0%) |
| Not sure | 20 (10.0%) |
| Interest in using mental health services should they be referred | |
| Interested | 47 (24.2%) |
| Not interested | 56 (28.9%) |
| Not sure | 91 (46.9%) |
aOther cancers included cancer at bladder, brain, cervical, gastric, kidney, liver, oesophageal, ovarian, oral, pancreas, prostate, soft palate, parotid gland, submandibular gland, melanoma, thymus, bile ducts or ampulla of Vater
bOther perceived reasons for cancer included genetic factors, environmental pollution, exposure to chemical substance including insecticide, type of food consumed, and consumption of contaminated food