scholarly journals Self-discovered breast cancer symptoms and women's help seeking behaviour: key findings from phase one of a two-phase study

2010 ◽  
pp. 133-132
Author(s):  
Mairin O’Mahony
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Western World ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Cancer Symptoms ◽  
Common Cancer ◽  
Breast Symptom ◽  
Help Seeking Behaviour

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the western world. In Ireland, breast cancer was the most common cancer diagnosed amongst women during 2000-2004 with approximately 3,095 cases reported annually and an average of 947 deaths. It is well known that the earlier the diagnosis of breast cancer is made the more likely it is that women will have a better health outcome. However, 20-30% of women wait for one month or more before presenting to a Health Care Professional with a self discovered breast symptom. This is a worrying situation given the increased emphasis on prompt presentation of symptoms and the associated link with better health care outcomes for women diagnosed with breast cancer. Therefore, more work on help-seeking behaviour from the woman’s perspective will help Health Care Professionals to understand women’s needs and concerns surrounding symptom discovery and highlight the key issues linked to delayed ...

scholarly journals Presentation of breast cancer, help seeking behaviour and experience of patients in their cancer journey in Singapore: a qualitative study

BMC Cancer ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Celene W. Q. Ng ◽  
Jennifer N. W. Lim ◽  
Jenny Liu ◽  
Mikael Hartman
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Financial Burden ◽  
Support Network ◽  
Medical Attention ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Delayed Presentation ◽  
Cancer Symptoms ◽  
Qualitative Interview Study ◽  
Help Seeking Behaviour

Abstract Background Little is known about the presentation, help seeking behaviour for breast cancer in Singapore. Nor was there a study exploring the experience of patients in their breast cancer journey. Methods A qualitative interview study with thematic analysis, conducted with 36 patients. Results There is no clear pattern of presentation for breast cancer by cancer stage at diagnosis, age and ethnicity in the cancer journey of this group of patients. Patients were diagnosed with early to advanced stages cancer regardless of when they presented or took up treatment in their cancer journey. The reasons patients sought medical attention also did not appear to differ between the stages of cancer diagnosed, ethnic and age. Without setting a measure to define early and late presentation, we found that women shared similar experience in their breast cancer journey, regardless of age, ethnicity and stage of cancer at diagnosis. Poor knowledge of breast cancer (symptoms and causes); few practised regular BSE; denial of symptom; fear of hospitalisation, diagnosis and treatment; worries and stress over financial burden of treatment; misinformation in magazine and online sources; diet; stress; caring responsibility; support network; and use of alternative medicine before and after diagnosis were identified in patients’ narratives. Strong social support; fear of being an emotional and financial burden for the family; and financial worries during treatment were also the recurring themes after diagnosis. Conclusion A measure of breast cancer presentation - that accounts for the patient’s experience in the cancer journey, the time interval and tumour biology – that is meaningful to patients, clinicians and researchers is needed. For research on late and delayed presentation, details on BSE practice – how often, when and was it done correctly – will improve the accuracy of time delay interval. For the public, concerted efforts to improve knowledge of breast cancer, survival and prognosis for early-diagnosed cancer, and the importance of regular and correct technique to perform BSE, are critical and urgent to address the rising breast cancer incidence in the country.

Women’s help seeking behaviour for self discovered breast cancer symptoms

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 410-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mairin O’Mahony ◽  
Josephine Hegarty ◽  
Geraldine McCarthy
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Cancer Symptoms ◽  
Help Seeking Behaviour

scholarly journals Hearing Loss and Help-Seeking Behavior

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 797-797
Author(s):  
Nicholas Reed
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Health Care Quality ◽  
Medicare Beneficiary ◽  
Care Quality ◽  
The Past ◽  
Help Seeking Behaviour ◽  
Seeking Behavior ◽  
Future Work

Abstract Hearing Loss (HL) is common among older adults and is associated with poor health care quality outcomes include 30-day readmissions, length of stay, poorer satisfaction, and increased medical expenditures. These associations may manifest in changes in help-seeking behaviour. In the 2015 Current Medicare Beneficiary Study (MCBS) (n=10848; weighted sample=46.3 million), participants reported whether they knowingly had avoided seeking care in the past year and self-reported HL was measured as degree of trouble (none, a little, or a lot) hearing when using a hearing aid if applicable. In a model adjusted for demographic, socioeconomic, and health factors, those with a little trouble (OR= 1.612; 95% CI= 1.334-1.947; P<0.001) and a lot of trouble hearing (OR= 2.011; 95% CI= 1.443-2.801; P<0.001) had 61.2% and 101.1% higher odds of avoiding health care over the past year relative to participants with no trouble hearing. Future work should examine whether hearing care modifies this association.

scholarly journals Psychosocial influences on help-seeking behaviour for cancer in low-income and lower middle-income countries: a mixed-methods systematic review

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. e004213
Author(s):  
Grace McCutchan ◽  
Bahr Weiss ◽  
Harriet Quinn-Scoggins ◽  
Anh Dao ◽  
Tom Downs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Cancer Treatment ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Cancer Symptoms ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Help Seeking Behaviour ◽  
Psychosocial Influences

IntroductionStarting cancer treatment early can improve outcomes. Psychosocial factors influencing patients’ medical help-seeking decisions may be particularly important in low and lower middle-income countries (LMIC) where cancer outcomes are poor. Comprehensive review evidence is needed to understand the psychosocial influences on medical help-seeking for cancer symptoms, attendance for diagnosis and starting cancer treatment.MethodsMixed-methods systematic review registered on PROSPERO (CRD42018099057). Peer-reviewed databases were searched until April 2020 for studies assessing patient-related barriers and facilitators to medical help-seeking for cancer symptoms, diagnosis and treatment in adults (18+ years) living in LMICs. Quality of included studies was assessed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme tool. Data were synthesised using meta-analytic techniques, meta-ethnography or narrative synthesis as appropriate.ResultsOf 3963 studies identified, 64 were included. In quantitative studies, use of traditional, complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM) was associated with 3.60 higher odds of prolonged medical help-seeking (95% CI 2.06 to 5.14). Qualitative studies suggested that use of TCAM was a key barrier to medical help-seeking in LMICs, and was influenced by causal beliefs, cultural norms and a preference to avoid biomedical treatment. Women face particular barriers, such as needing family permission for help-seeking, and higher stigma for cancer treatment. Additional psychosocial barriers included: shame and stigma associated with cancer such as fear of social rejection (eg, divorce/disownment); limited knowledge of cancer and associated symptoms; and financial and access barriers associated with travel and appointments.ConclusionDue to variable quality of studies, future evaluations would benefit from using validated measures and robust study designs. The use of TCAM and gender influences appear to be important barriers to help-seeking in LMIC. Cancer awareness campaigns developed with LMIC communities need to address cultural influences on medical help-seeking behaviour.

scholarly journals Assessing Apps for Patients with Genitourinary Tumors Using the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS): Systematic Search in App Stores and Content Analysis (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Ángel Amor-García ◽  
Roberto Collado-Borrell ◽  
Vicente Escudero-Vilaplana ◽  
Alejandra Melgarejo-Ortuño ◽  
Ana Herranz-Alonso ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prostate Cancer ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Mobile Application ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Cancer Symptoms ◽  
Genitourinary Cancers

BACKGROUND The large number of available cancer apps and their impact on the population necessitates a transparent, objective, and comprehensive evaluation by app experts, health care professionals, and users. To date, there have been no analyses or classifications of apps for patients with genitourinary cancers, which are among the most prevalent types of cancer. OBJECTIVE The objective of our study was to analyze the quality of apps for patients diagnosed with genitourinary cancers using the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS) and identify high-quality apps. METHODS We performed an observational cross-sectional descriptive study of all smartphone apps for patients diagnosed with genitourinary cancers available on iOS and Android platforms. In July 2019, we searched for all available apps for patients with genitourinary cancers (bladder, prostate, cervical, uterine, endometrial, kidney, testicular, and vulvar) or their caregivers. Apps were downloaded and evaluated, and the general characteristics were entered into a database. The evaluation was performed by 2 independent researchers using the MARS questionnaire, which rates 23 evaluation criteria clustered in 5 domains (Engagement, Functionality, Esthetics, Information, and Subjective Quality) on a scale from 1 to 5. RESULTS In total, 46 apps were analyzed. Of these, 31 (67%) were available on Android, 6 (13%) on iOS, and 9 (20%) on both platforms. The apps were free in 89% of cases (41/46), and 61% (28/46) had been updated in the previous year. The apps were intended for prostate cancer in 30% of cases (14/46) and cervical cancer in 17% (8/46). The apps were mainly informative (63%, 29/46), preventive (24%, 11/46), and diagnostic (13%, 6/46). Only 7/46 apps (15%) were developed by health care organizations. The mean MARS score for the overall quality of the 46 apps was 2.98 (SD 0.77), with a maximum of 4.63 and a minimum of 1.95. Functionality scores were quite similar for most of the apps, with the greatest differences in Engagement and Esthetics, which showed acceptable scores in one-third of the apps. The 5 apps with the highest MARS score were the following: “Bladder cancer manager,” “Kidney cancer manager,” “My prostate cancer manager,” “Target Ovarian Cancer Symptoms Diary,” and “My Cancer Coach.” We observed statistically significant differences in the MARS score between the operating systems and the developer types (<i>P</i>&lt;.001 and <i>P</i>=.01, respectively), but not for cost (<i>P</i>=.62). CONCLUSIONS MARS is a helpful methodology to decide which apps can be prescribed to patients and to identify which features should be addressed to improve these tools. Most of the apps designed for patients with genitourinary cancers only try to provide data about the disease, without coherent interactivity. The participation of health professionals in the development of these apps is low; nevertheless, we observed that both the participation of health professionals and regular updates were correlated with quality.

scholarly journals Reconciliation of patient/doctor vocabulary in a structured resource

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 1219-1231
Author(s):  
Mike Donald Tapi Nzali ◽  
Jérôme Aze ◽  
Sandra Bringay ◽  
Christian Lavergne ◽  
Caroline Mollevi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Consumer Health ◽  
Simple Knowledge Organization System ◽  
Cancer Field ◽  
Knowledge Organization System ◽  
Statistical Approaches ◽  
Institut National Du Cancer

Today, social media is increasingly used by patients to openly discuss their health. Mining automatically such data is a challenging task because of the non-structured nature of the text and the use of many abbreviations and the slang terms. Our goal is to use Patient Authored Text to build a French Consumer Health Vocabulary on breast cancer field, by collecting various kinds of non-experts’ expressions that are related to their diseases and then compare them to biomedical terms used by health care professionals. We combine several methods of the literature based on linguistic and statistical approaches to extract candidate terms used by non-experts and to link them to expert terms. We use messages extracted from the forum on ‘ cancerdusein.org ’ and a vocabulary dedicated to breast cancer elaborated by the Institut National Du Cancer. We have built an efficient vocabulary composed of 192 validated relationships and formalized in Simple Knowledge Organization System ontology.

scholarly journals Health Care Going Online: Help Seeking Behavior by Patients for Sexual Problems—Analysis of Online Queries on Sexual Health

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-83
Author(s):  
Sandip Deshpande ◽  
Jaya Aiyappa ◽  
Sadhana Mishra ◽  
Seema Naik ◽  
Samiksha Jain ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Sexual Health ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Mobile Internet ◽  
Sexual Problems ◽  
Internet Technology ◽  
Care Seeking ◽  
Online Help ◽  
Objective Health

Background and Objective: Health care industry is going through a renaissance with the advances in mobile Internet technology. Health care seeking has become easier for people and there are multiple providers offering online consultations and counselling. Sexual medicine is still an unrecognized specialty in India. People suffering from sexual health problems and dysfunctions have a lot of stigma approaching health care professionals. With the coming in of Internet-based services, people are finding it easier to seek help online anonymously. As an industry this is likely to continue to grow and offer opportunities to people in distress to seek help. Methodology: In the present study, we have done a retrospective analysis of 500 queries that were posted privately to the principal author. Results focused on the demographic details, the nature of the problem and an analysis of the content of the queries. The study discusses how the findings may be used to better understand the perceptions, concerns, and stated needs of people accessing online portals for sexual problems. This should also help equip counsellors interested in this field. Results: The study clearly brought out the gender differences among those accessing online health care portals for sexual issues. A majority of the queries were from men asking about issues related to size and curvature of penis, masturbation, premature ejaculation, erectile dysfunction. Many of these queries stemmed from the lack of correct scientific knowledge which led to health anxieties including frustration, depression, and low self-esteem.

An assessment of breast cancer survivorship awareness and educational needs among health care professionals

2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e17542-e17542 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. De Fusco ◽  
R. Chlebowski
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Cancer Survivorship ◽  
Cancer Survivor ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Educational Needs ◽  
Survivorship Care Plan ◽  
Survivorship Care ◽  
Breast Cancer Survivorship ◽  
Patient Advocates

e17542 Background: Tremendous advances in detection and treatment have improved breast cancer survival rates. However, with nearly 22.4 million people worldwide living with cancer, optimal survivorship care has become a major focus of health care professionals (HCPs) and patient advocates. The Breast Cancer Survivorship Alliance (BCSA) is a group of HCPs and patient advocates dedicated to enhancing patient survivorship care and encouraging HCPs to look beyond the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Methods: To identify educational needs in breast cancer survivorship, a 25-question survey was fielded at the 2007 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. Electronic and print surveys were available at the Y-Me National Breast Cancer Organization and AstraZeneca booths. Results: Of the 516 respondents, 29% were from the United States, 63% were from the rest of the world, and 8% did not specify a location. A total of 73% were physicians, 7% were oncology nurses, nurse practitioners, or physician assistants, and 20% represented other aspects of breast cancer care (e.g., advocates and patients). The survey revealed a lack of consensus on the definition of cancer survivor, with only 26% of respondents selecting the definition established by the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (ie, from the moment of cancer diagnosis and for the balance of life). More than half (i.e., 51%) defined cancer survivor as a patient who has been disease-free for 5 years. Overall wellness promotion, adherence, and management of treatment-related side effects were ranked as the 3 most essential aspects of survivorship care. While most practices engage in posttreatment survivorship counseling, only 16% provide patients with an end-of-treatment summary or survivorship care plan. Most respondents indicated that their institution has a survivorship program in place (39%) or in development (30%). Conclusions: Although progress has been made in understanding and implementing survivorship care, additional education is needed to optimize care of breast cancer survivors. [Table: see text]

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