Dietary decision-making in Chinese breast cancer survivors: a qualitative study

Abstract

Objective: To explore the dietary practices and decision-making process among Chinese breast cancer (BCA) survivors.

Methods: Using a grounded theory approach, this qualitative study involved individual semi-structured interviews with 30 BCA survivors. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim for analysis.

Results: Most of the participants reported making long-term diet modification. Key themes were grouped into three stages: (1) Motivation, (2) Diet modification, and (3) Maintenance. Most participants reported to be motivated by cancer causal attributions formulated through the evaluation of past dietary habits. Others embarked on changes out of compliance to social expectations. BCA survivors interviewed were willing to make trade-offs for health, but also influenced by peer and traditional Chinese beliefs. The lack of awareness of dietary guidelines was a crucial barrier to adopting healthy eating. Lastly, maintenance of newly formed dietary habits was reinforced by positive feedback but hindered by a lack of both self-efficacy and social support.

Conclusions: While the majority of BCA survivors expressed willingness to improve their diets, changes made were often inconsistent with existing dietary recommendations.

Practice implications: Future interventions may target factors at different decision-making stages: guiding evaluation of past diet, building self-efficacy and giving approval to encourage maintenance of healthy dietary behaviors.