IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i14p8596-d862954.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Indian Immigrants in Australia towards Oral Cancer and Their Perceived Role of General Practitioners: A Cross-Sectional Study

Author

Listed:
  • Nidhi Saraswat

    (Australian Centre for Integration of Oral Health (ACIOH), School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University, Southwestern Sydney Local Health District, Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, Liverpool, NSW 1871, Australia
    School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University, Parramatta, NSW 2116, Australia)

  • Bronwyn Everett

    (Australian Centre for Integration of Oral Health (ACIOH), School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University, Southwestern Sydney Local Health District, Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, Liverpool, NSW 1871, Australia
    School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University, Parramatta, NSW 2116, Australia)

  • Rona Pillay

    (School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University, Parramatta, NSW 2116, Australia)

  • Neeta Prabhu

    (School of Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia
    Paediatric Dentistry, Westmead Centre for Oral Health, Sydney, NSW 2145, Australia)

  • Amy Villarosa

    (Australian Centre for Integration of Oral Health (ACIOH), School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University, Southwestern Sydney Local Health District, Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, Liverpool, NSW 1871, Australia
    School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University, Parramatta, NSW 2116, Australia)

  • Ajesh George

    (Australian Centre for Integration of Oral Health (ACIOH), School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University, Southwestern Sydney Local Health District, Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, Liverpool, NSW 1871, Australia
    School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University, Parramatta, NSW 2116, Australia
    School of Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia)

Abstract

Oral cancer is highly prevalent in the Indian subcontinent. With the increasing immigration of Indians to Australia, a potential rise in oral cancer cases can be expected if they continue engaging in oral cancer risk practices. Unfortunately, little is known on this topic in the Australian context. This study aimed to generate new insights into this area by examining Indian immigrants’ knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding oral cancer in Australia and their perceived role of general practitioners in raising oral cancer awareness. Exploring these aspects could determine the oral cancer risk behaviours of Indians in Australia along with any contributing factors which could help identify potential preventative strategies. A cross-sectional survey was undertaken of 164 Indians across Australia. Data were analysed using SPSS software with descriptive statistics. Respondents had varying levels of knowledge about oral cancer (mean total score 61%), particularly around risk factors such as alcohol and areca nut use as well as oral cancer-related signs/symptoms. The majority (87.7%) had not received any information about oral cancer in a health care setting but were receptive (71–90%) to general practitioners playing a more active role in this area. Respondents were engaging in positive preventative oral health care though few were currently (6.7%) or previously (14.7%) chewing tobacco preparations. Further research is needed through larger studies to confirm the study findings and inform the development of culturally tailored strategies particularly involving general practitioners, to raise oral cancer awareness and provide early screening for Indian immigrants.

Suggested Citation

  • Nidhi Saraswat & Bronwyn Everett & Rona Pillay & Neeta Prabhu & Amy Villarosa & Ajesh George, 2022. "Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Indian Immigrants in Australia towards Oral Cancer and Their Perceived Role of General Practitioners: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-16, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:14:p:8596-:d:862954
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/14/8596/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/14/8596/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ryuichi Ohta & Mikiya Sato & Jun Kitayuguchi & Tetsuhiro Maeno & Chiaki Sano, 2021. "Potential Help-Seeking Behaviors Associated with Better Self-Rated Health among Rural Older Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-8, August.
    2. Wimalin Rimpeekool & Cathy Banwell & Sam-ang Seubsman & Martyn Kirk & Vasoontara Yiengprugsawan & Adrian Sleigh, 2016. "“I rarely read the label”: Factors that Influence Thai Consumer Responses to Nutrition Labels," Global Journal of Health Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 8(1), pages 1-21, January.
    3. Beck, Matthew J. & Hensher, David A., 2020. "Insights into the impact of COVID-19 on household travel and activities in Australia – The early days under restrictions," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 76-93.
    4. Cruz, G.D. & Chen, Y. & Salazar, C.R. & Le Geros, R.Z., 2009. "The association of immigration and acculturation attributes with oral health among immigrants in New York City," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99(S2), pages 474-480.
    5. Nidhi Saraswat & Rona Pillay & Neeta Prabhu & Bronwyn Everett & Ajesh George, 2021. "Perceptions and Practices of General Practitioners towards Oral Cancer and Emerging Risk Factors among Indian Immigrants in Australia: A Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-16, October.
    6. Adnan Ansar & Virginia Lewis & Christine Faye McDonald & Chaojie Liu & Muhammad Aziz Rahman, 2021. "Duration of intervals in the care seeking pathway for lung cancer in Bangladesh: A journey from symptoms triggering consultation to receipt of treatment," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(9), pages 1-16, September.
    7. Ryuichi Ohta & Mikiya Sato & Jun Kitayuguchi & Tetsuhiro Maeno & Chiaki Sano, 2021. "The Association between the Self-Management of Mild Symptoms and Quality of Life of Elderly Populations in Rural Communities: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-10, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ryuichi Ohta & Yoshinori Ryu & Chiaki Sano, 2022. "Improvement in Quality of Life through Self-Management of Mild Symptoms during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Prospective Cohort Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-9, May.
    2. Ryuichi Ohta & Akinori Ueno & Chiaki Sano, 2021. "Changes in the Comprehensiveness of Rural Medical Care for Older Japanese Patients during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-9, October.
    3. Ryuichi Ohta & Chiaki Sano, 2022. "Associations between Perception of Help-Seeking Behaviors and Quality of Life among Older People in Rural Communities: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-10, October.
    4. Ryuichi Ohta & Yoshinori Ryu & Chiaki Sano, 2022. "Older People’s Help-Seeking Behaviors in Rural Contexts: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-12, March.
    5. Sarah E. Raskin & R. Rasnick & Tatiana Kohlmann & Martin Zanin & Julie Bilodeau & Aderonke Akinkugbe, 2022. "Oral Health, Health Service Utilization, and Age at Arrival to the U.S. among Safety Net Patients," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-15, January.
    6. Molloy, Joseph & Schatzmann, Thomas & Schoeman, Beaumont & Tchervenkov, Christopher & Hintermann, Beat & Axhausen, Kay W., 2021. "Observed impacts of the Covid-19 first wave on travel behaviour in Switzerland based on a large GPS panel," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 43-51.
    7. Shiqi Zhang & Tianwei Sun & Yuan Lu, 2023. "The COVID-19 Pandemic and Tourists’ Risk Perceptions: Tourism Policies’ Mediating Role in Sustainable and Resilient Recovery in the New Normal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-20, January.
    8. Shuai Yu & Bin Li & Dongmei Liu, 2023. "Exploring the Public Health of Travel Behaviors in High-Speed Railway Environment during the COVID-19 Pandemic from the Perspective of Trip Chain: A Case Study of Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Urban Agglomera," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-22, January.
    9. van Wee, Bert & Witlox, Frank, 2021. "COVID-19 and its long-term effects on activity participation and travel behaviour: A multiperspective view," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    10. Chen, Tiantian & Fu, Xiaowen & Hensher, David A. & Li, Zhi-Chun & Sze, N.N., 2022. "Air travel choice, online meeting and passenger heterogeneity – An international study on travellers’ preference during a pandemic," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 439-453.
    11. Marc Audi & Amjad Ali, 2023. "The Role of Environmental Conditions and Purchasing Power Parity in Determining Quality of Life among Big Asian Cities," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 13(3), pages 292-305, May.
    12. Currie, Graham & Jain, Taru & Aston, Laura, 2021. "Evidence of a post-COVID change in travel behaviour – Self-reported expectations of commuting in Melbourne," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 218-234.
    13. José Magano & Diogo Guedes Vidal & Hélder Fernando Pedrosa e Sousa & Maria Alzira Pimenta Dinis & Ângela Leite, 2021. "Validation and Psychometric Properties of the Portuguese Version of the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) and Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) and Associations with Travel, Tourism and Hospitality," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-12, January.
    14. Feuillet, Thierry & Bulteau, Julie & Dantan, Sophie, 2021. "Modelling context-specific relationships between neighbourhood socioeconomic disadvantage and private car use," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    15. Beck, Matthew J. & Hensher, David A. & Nelson, John D., 2021. "Public transport trends in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic: An investigation of the influence of bio-security concerns on trip behaviour," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    16. Shelat, Sanmay & Cats, Oded & van Cranenburgh, Sander, 2022. "Traveller behaviour in public transport in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 357-371.
    17. Beck, Matthew J. & Hensher, David A., 2022. "Australia 6 months after COVID-19 restrictions- part 1: Changes to travel activity and attitude to measures," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 286-298.
    18. Yang, Senyan & Ning, Lianju & Jiang, Tingfeng & He, Yingqi, 2021. "Dynamic impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on the regional express logistics: Evidence from China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 111-124.
    19. Salesi, Vinolia Kilinaivoni & Kan Tsui, Wai Hong & Fu, Xiaowen & Gilbey, Andrew, 2022. "Strategies for South Pacific Region to address future pandemics: Implications for the aviation and tourism sectors based on a systematic literature review (2010–2021)," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 107-126.
    20. Gabriela Okundaye & John Ishiyama, 2024. "Premigratory experiences with Civil War violence and social trust," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 105(2), pages 253-266, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:14:p:8596-:d:862954. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.