Psychological factors related to time to help-seeking for cancer symptoms: a meta-analysis across cancer sites

The time patients wait before seeking help for cancer symptoms is among the most important factors contributing to diagnostic delays in cancer. We reviewed the association between time to help-seeking and three psychological factors: symptom knowledge, symptom interpretation, and beliefs about cance...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health psychology review 2020-04, Vol.14 (2), p.245-268
Main Authors: Petrova, Dafina, Okan, Yasmina, Salamanca-Fernández, Elena, Domínguez-López, Santiago, Sánchez, María-José, Rodríguez-Barranco, Miguel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
beliefs
Cancer
Culture
diagnostic delay
Female
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Help seeking behavior
Humans
knowledge
Male
Meta-analysis
Middle Aged
Neoplasms - psychology
Odds Ratio
Patient Acceptance of Health Care - psychology
Patient Acceptance of Health Care - statistics & numerical data
patient interval
Psychological aspects
symptoms
Systematic review
Time Factors
time to help-seeking
Time-to-Treatment - statistics & numerical data
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Summary:The time patients wait before seeking help for cancer symptoms is among the most important factors contributing to diagnostic delays in cancer. We reviewed the association between time to help-seeking and three psychological factors: symptom knowledge, symptom interpretation, and beliefs about cancer. Forty-seven studies met the inclusion criteria, providing data from 22 countries concerning seven cancer sites. Better symptom knowledge was related to lower odds of a long help-seeking interval in both studies with healthy populations (OR = .73, 95% CI [.63, .84], k = 19) and patients (OR = .40, 95% CI [.23, .69], k = 12), and so was interpreting experienced symptoms as cancer-related (OR = .52, 95% CI [.36, .75], k = 13 studies with patients). More positive beliefs about cancer (i.e., that cancer is treatable) were associated with lower odds of a long help-seeking interval in both studies with healthy populations (OR = .70, 95% CI [.52, .92], k = 11) and with patients (OR = .51, 95% CI [.32, .82], k = 7). Symptom knowledge, interpretation, and beliefs about cancer are likely to be universal predictors of help-seeking and should be incorporated into theoretical models of patient help-seeking and interventions aiming to reduce delays.
ISSN:1743-7199
1743-7202
DOI:10.1080/17437199.2019.1641425