Background: The aim of this study was to compare illness concepts and coping strategies among native German cancer patients and those with a Turkish migration background. Methods: Guideline-based, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 German (♂: 8, ♀: 3) and 11 Turkish (♂: 2, ♀: 9) cancer patients. The transcripts were evaluated using a qualitative content analysis in accordance with Mayring. Results: We identified eight categories of illness concepts: stressful life events, environmental influences, the will of God, medical factors, fate, trauma, health behaviour, and psychological causes. German patients frequently attributed their illness to environmental influences, persistent stress, or medical factors, whereas Turkish patients blamed persistent stress, the will of God, or trauma. The last two categories are not found among German patients. We classified the coping strategies into 11 main categories: social support, activity, patient competence, fighting spirit/positive thinking, use of health services/alternative healing methods, lifestyle, emotional coping, cognitive coping, religious coping, spiritual coping, and culture-specific methods for patients of Turkish origin. For German patients, activities as well as social support played primary roles in coping. Turkish patients also often used social support. However, in contrast to the German patients, they are less active and use much more religious coping and culture-specific means. In addition, negative emotions occur more often when processing the illness than in the German patients. Conclusion: Common illness representations and coping strategies could be found for Turkish and German patients, but also specific ones for the respective group. It is particularly noticeable that German patients attach more importance to medical factors and try more actively to cope with the illness. For Turkish patients, cultural and religious factors play an important role, which should also be considered in treatment.

中文翻译：

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土耳其和德国癌症患者疾病概念和应对策略的比较。


背景：本研究的目的是比较德国本土癌症患者和具有土耳其移民背景的癌症患者的疾病概念和应对策略。方法：对 11 名德国（♂：8，♀：3）和 11 名土耳其（♂：2，♀：9）癌症患者进行基于指南的半结构化访谈。根据 Mayring 的规定，使用定性内容分析对成绩单进行评估。结果：我们确定了八类疾病概念：压力生活事件、环境影响、上帝意志、医疗因素、命运、创伤、健康行为和心理原因。德国患者经常将他们的疾病归因于环境影响、持续的压力或医疗因素，而土耳其患者则将其归咎于持续的压力、上帝的意志或创伤。德国患者中未发现后两类。我们将应对策略分为 11 个主要类别：社会支持、活动、患者能力、斗志/积极思考、使用健康服务/替代治疗方法、生活方式、情绪应对、认知应对、宗教应对、精神应对和文化——针对土耳其裔患者的具体方法。对于德国患者来说，活动和社会支持在应对过程中发挥着主要作用。土耳其患者也经常使用社会支持。然而，与德国患者相比，他们的积极性较低，并且使用更多的宗教应对和文化特定手段。此外，与德国患者相比，在处理疾病时更容易出现负面情绪。结论：可以找到土耳其和德国患者的常见疾病表征和应对策略，也可以找到针对各自群体的特定疾病表征和应对策略。 尤其值得注意的是，德国患者更加重视医疗因素，更加积极地应对疾病。对于土耳其患者来说，文化和宗教因素起着重要作用，在治疗中也应予以考虑。