Lay summary
Breast cancer is the no 1 cancer affecting NZ women, with Māori and Pacific women at a higher mortality rate. A considerable proportion of the breast cancer burden could be avoided by improved understanding of societal preferences for treatment and advancements in health delivery mechanisms. This study will be the first to elicit societal preferences for breast cancer treatment qualitatively from both patients and the general New Zealand public by employing a series of focus group discussions and independent interviews. The results from this research will contribute to the development of an evidence-based policy framework to support policy-making or reimbursement decisions to provide patient-centred and cost-effective breast cancer treatment. We hope that these outputs will benefit the highest risk populations, thereby reducing health inequalities. Through this project, we aim to further develop a decision aid to guide policy-making towards breast cancer treatment through a series of linked, multidisciplinary projects.