Methodology

All the decisions that have been taken when elaborating the Multilingual Vocabulary of Breast Cancer for Patients, both in the selection and delimitation of the terms and in the information that has been included in each of the entries, have taken into account that the intended recipients of this dictionary are breast cancer patients and not medical specialists.

 

In relation to the selection of the basic terms of breast cancer, frequency criteria have been used on the collected corpus, which includes texts of different levels of specialization (scientific papers, medical reports, dissemination materials, websites). The frequency criteria established were adjusted according to the criteria of various specialists with different professional profiles (oncologists, psychologists, nurses, responsible persons) who carried out the assessment of the vocabulary.

 

The vocabulary also contains all those topics that appear in the definitions of other terms and that are not sufficiently general for the non-expert user to understand them. Some common terms in biology or chemistry, for example, which are often used in texts on breast cancer, such as enzyme, molecule, chromosome or hormone, have also been taken into account.

 

The vocabulary consists of 289 entries linked to the following subject areas:
 

	Breast anatomy
	Breast cancer diagnoses (symptoms, tests and results, types, classifications)
	Breast cancer treatments (type, side effects, drugs - the generic names as well as the most common and most commonly used specific drugs, according to the specialist's criteria)
	Other (general terms of biology, chemistry, etc. that are necessary and commonly used when talking about breast cancer)

 

The entries are arranged alphabetically, and the following information can be found in each entry:

 

	Lemma in Catalan
	Grammatical information
	Definition in Catalan
	English and Spanish equivalents
	Synonym variants, acronyms, and abbreviations (if there are any)
	Notes (if applicable)

 

 

 

 

 
 
In accordance with the criterion of creating a vocabulary for patients, the definitions move away from the canonical terminological definition and are closer to encyclopedic definitions. This definition pattern is justified by the fact that the definitions in this vocabulary are intended to make the information more understandable and to provide secondary information that may be relevant to patients, as we can see in the following example:

 

neutropenia: a side effect of chemotherapy that consists of a decrease in the number of white blood cells in the blood. This side effect increases the risk of infection in the patient.
 

As regards the variants of the terminological units, synonyms, acronyms and abbreviations have been included.
 
Regarding the Spanish and English equivalents, we have selected the most functional ones. We have discarded those equivalents which, either because of frequency or specialist criteria, were little used or too specialized.

 

Finally, the notes that incorporate some terms refer only to marks of use or relevant information that complements the definition and that we have not considered it appropriate to include within the definition itself.