Women's Health Commons^™

Empowering Low-Income Women With Breast Cancer: Promoting Acupuncture At Community Health Fairs, Katrina Ramos

Nursing | Senior Theses

While research has explored the positive effects of acupuncture on cancer and cancer treatment symptoms, a notable gap exists in understanding its impact on lower-income populations. These individuals encounter barriers to accessing acupuncture, such as limited availability, cost, and provider knowledge. This longitudinal study aims to assess the impact of community health fairs, featuring acupuncture information for breast cancer and chemotherapy-induced symptoms, on the acceptance and utilization rates of acupuncture among low-income women with breast cancer. Collaborating with the Women’s Cancer Resource Center and a local non-profit integrative cancer care clinic in Oakland, we will conduct a three-day health fair …

Bayesian Methods For Graphical Models With Neighborhood Selection., Sagnik Bhadury

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Graphical models determine associations between variables through the notion of conditional independence. Gaussian graphical models are a widely used class of such models, where the relationships are formalized by non-null entries of the precision matrix. However, in high-dimensional cases, covariance estimates are typically unstable. Moreover, it is natural to expect only a few significant associations to be present in many realistic applications. This necessitates the injection of sparsity techniques into the estimation method. Classical frequentist methods, like GLASSO, use penalization techniques for this purpose. Fully Bayesian methods, on the contrary, are slow because they require iteratively sampling over a quadratic …

Improving Mammography Rates Among The Hispanic Population: An Evidence-Based Project Utilizing A Promotora Intervention, Dawn Mirowski

Student Scholarly Projects

Practice Problem: Breast cancer is the leading cause of death in Hispanic women in the U.S., with mammography being the most effective means of reducing breast cancer mortality. Promotoras have been shown to improve health promotion, including mammography, among the Hispanic population.

PICOT: The PICOT question that guided this project was: In Hispanic women 40 years or older (P), how does the use of a promotora intervention (I), compared to no promotora intervention (C), affect mammography rates (O) within an 8-week period (T)?

Evidence: Twenty-one studies that met the inclusion criteria supported the use of promotoras to improve mammography …

Comparative Genomics Methods And Applications, Emily N. Alden

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Virtually all fields of biology have benefited from the advancements in comparative genomics technologies, specifically in the study of evolution. In this dissertation I develop and use comparative genomic technologies to investigate the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus, assembly the first genome of the black lace domestic angelfish and identify germline genetic variants associated with altered breast cancer-specific survival. Our genome tiling array for the novel coronavirus presents a rapid and cost-effective method to sequence the entire viral genome and can be used to track the rapid evolution of viral variants in the population. The domestic angelfish is a member of the …

Choosing Between Medical Surveillance And Preventive Surgical Interventions Among Asymptomatic Brca Positive Women, Hillary Zupan

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Women with a known BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 genetic mutation are at an increased risk for the development of cancer, most commonly breast and uterine types. Risk reduction strategies to manage cancer risk include increased medical surveillance and various preventive surgeries. This is a deeply personal decision and one that is influenced by a variety of factors. The aim of this literature review is to identify the key factors impacting the decision-making process of a woman with a BRCA mutation and how a woman ultimately decides between the cancer risk management strategies. Six electronic databases were used to obtain …

Safety And Efficacy Of Bioidentical Hormone Therapy In Menopause: A Literature Review, Kathryn Akre

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Vasomotor symptoms (VMS) experienced during menopause can negatively impact a woman’s quality of life, productivity, sleep, and mood. Systemic hormone therapy (HT) is the most effective treatment for moderate to severe VMS, however safety concerns raised by the 2002 Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) trial have led to a decrease in overall HT use and a growing demand for custom-compounded bioidentical HT. Misconceptions regarding the superior safety and efficacy of custom-compounded hormones and lack of clinician expertise in menopause management contribute to ongoing uncertainty and low uptake of United States (U.S.) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved bioidentical HT products. This …

Mass Matters: Increasing Mammography Rates To Underserved Women, Ingrid N. Cooper

Evidence-Based Practice Project Reports

Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among women in Indiana and the United States (Indiana Cancer Organization, 2019). An estimated 268,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer were diagnosed and 41,760 women died due to breast cancer in 2019 (ACS, 2019). Substantial breast cancer-related morbidity and mortality disparities persist among the underserved. Disparities in breast cancer outcomes are due to lower mammography screening rates, lack of timely follow-up of abnormal results, and lack of timely treatment initiation among women with breast cancer (Highfield et al., 2015). The purpose of this evidence-based practice project was to address low mammography …

Impact Of A Protocol Implementation On Identification And Referral Of Women At-Risk For Hereditary Breast Cancer, Chrysanthemum Davis Lawson

Evidence-Based Practice Project Reports

Breast cancer is the foremost new cancer diagnosis and the second highest cause of cancer death in American women (American Cancer Society, 2019). Hereditary breast cancer is most commonly caused by a mutation within the breast cancer susceptibility genes, BRCA 1 or 2, which increases women’s risk for breast cancer by five to ten-fold the average population (Mayo Clinic, 2019). The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has assigned a Grade B recommendation advising health care providers to use a risk assessment tool, such as the Breast Cancer Genetics Referral Screening Tool (B-RST™), to recognize and provide medical management recommendations for …

Federal Health Reform: Breast Cancer Outcomes, Nia Imani Bailey

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Young women are diagnosed with breast cancer; and young women die from breast cancer. This qualitative dissertation seeks to prove the significance of lowering the mammography age from 40 years old to 30 years old. Current policy and programs correlate to the mandated age of 40 years old, unless the woman is at high risk; such as having a family cancer history. This dissertation also seeks to implement an addendum to insurance policies to cover for younger women to have mammography screening in the event they are younger than the recommended age. The purpose of this study was to examine …

Antipsychotic Drug Use And Postmenopausal Breast Cancer Risk In The Women’S Health Initiative (Whi): A Prospective Cohort Study, Anna George

Masters Theses

Breast cancer is the most prevalent form of cancer and the second leading cause of mortality, affecting 1 in 9 women in the United States. Recent studies have shown that antipsychotic drug use is associated with increased prolactin levels, which, in turn, is associated with increased risk of breast cancer. However, studies of the association between antipsychotic drug use and the risk of breast cancer are sparse and have largely been conducted in homogenous populations. Therefore, we evaluated this relationship in postmenopausal women (N = 119 524) in a diverse population of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) cohort. Antipsychotic drug …

Symptom Clusters And Quality Of Life Trajectories In Breast Cancer Patients Before And After Chemotherapy, Gaurav Kumar

Capstone Experience

Context. Breast cancer patients experience multiple concurrent symptoms before and after chemotherapy (CTX). Physical and psychological symptoms may persist after treatment and reduce the quality of life (QOL) of survivors.

Objectives. Identify differences in prevalence and severity of symptoms at three times within 1- year of starting CTX; and identify symptom cluster and QOL trajectories over these times in breast cancer patients.

Methods. Symptoms were identified in breast cancer patients (N=219) before the start of CTX (baseline), 30 days after the last CTX, and 1-year after the first CTX. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and Symptom Experience Scale …

The Fight Against Breast Cancer: A Policy And Programmatic Approach, Nandi Robinson

Master's Projects and Capstones

Abstract

Breast cancer continues to remain a significant health issue for women. Previously thought to only occur among postmenopausal women, breast cancer has impacted women of different ages; and rates of breast cancer have various impacts among different ethnic groups. For women living in a toxic environment, many of them have become the new wave of breast cancer cases. Screening and detection have succeeded in decreasing mortality rates. However, more research is needed in finding an efficient method of treatment. In the effort to assist in the fight against breast cancer through a policy and programmatic angle, I am fulfilling …

Factors That Influence Breast Cancer Diagnoses In Virginia Women 40-64 Years Old Who Utlized The Every Woman’S Life Program 1998-2012, Melanie C. Dempsey

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines sociodemographic determinants and preventive health behaviors among women 40-64 years of age who participated in the Virginia Department of Health’s Every Woman’s Life breast cancer screening program. Utilizing secondary data, this research sought to explore patterns of breast cancer incidence, mammography screening utilization and sources of health information among low-income women.

The Virginia Department of Health provided a large sample size (N=34,942) on which to perform binary logistic regression analyses. Sociodemographic determinants and preventive health behaviors were analyzed as potential influencing factors in the diagnosis of breast cancer, the stage at the time of diagnosis and source …

Estimating The Impact Of Lost To Follow-Up On Breast Cancer Patients' Disease-Free Survival, Debbie Yan Qun Huang

Statistics

Background The 5-year survival rate for patients with breast cancer is much higher than patients with other types of cancer. Due to this longer survival period, breast cancer patients also tend to have increased rates of lost to follow-up, when compared to other cancers. When a patient becomes lost, the occurrence of distant metastasis cannot be reliably ascertained, unless the patient had a breast cancer-specific (BC) death. The impact of lost patients on recurrence rates and disease-free survival (DFS) was explored in breast cancer patients seen at the City of Hope from 1997 to 2012.

Methods Female breast cancer patients …

Stay Beautiful -- Stay Alive: Assessing The Receptivity Of African American Beauty Salon Owners To The Integration Of Breast Cancer Intervention Programs Into Salon Operations, Funmi Apantaku-Onayemi

Ed.D. Dissertations

The lower incidence rate of breast cancer in African American women is dwarfed by the excessive number of deaths due to late diagnosis and treatment. Lack of screening, socioeconomic factors, fatalistic beliefs and inequality of care are major contributing factors. Studies have suggested that those who had more knowledge about breast cancer are more likely to have reduced fatalistic attitudes and engage in screening behaviors. This study investigated beauty salons as sustainable and viable venues to reach women with health intervention programs because they fit the prescriptions of the principles of adult learning. In a mixed-method, descriptive study involving 115 …

The Impact Of Breast Cancer Educational Workshops On Knowledge And Breast Self-Examination Practice Among Korean-American Women, Corinne Lee

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Among Korean-American women, breast cancer is the second leading cause of death. Although their incidence is lower than that of Caucasian women, Korean-American women are more likely to be diagnosed at more advanced stages of breast cancer. One of the suggested methods in breast cancer prevention is early detection and routine screenings. The present study was conducted to explore the impact of breast cancer educational workshop on breast cancer knowledge and breast self-examination practices among Korean-American women. The knowledge of breast cancer and the health beliefs (perceived benefits, perceived barriers, and perceived self-efficacy) was examined before and after the educational …