Lung Cancer Stigma Predicts Timing of Medical Help-Seeking Behavior

Abstract

Purpose/Objectives To examine relationships among demographic variables, healthcare system distrust, lung cancer stigma, smoking status, and timing of medical help–seeking behavior in individuals with symptoms suggestive of lung cancer after controlling for ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and social desirability. Design Descriptive, cross-sectional, correlational study. Setting Outpatient oncology clinics in Louisville, KY. Sample 94 patients diagnosed in the past three weeks to six years with all stages of lung cancer. Methods Self-report, written survey packets were administered in person followed by a semistructured interview to assess symptoms and timing characteristics of practice-identified patients with lung cancer. Main Research Variables Timing of medical help–seeking behavior, healthcare system distrust, lung cancer stigma, and smoking status. Findings Lung cancer stigma was independently associated with timing of medical help–seeking behavior in patients with lung cancer. Healthcare system distrust and smoking status were not independently associated with timing of medical help–seeking behavior. Conclusions Findings suggest that stigma influences medical help–seeking behavior for lung cancer symptoms, serving as a barrier to prompt medical help–seeking behavior. Implications for Nursing When designing interventions to promote early medical help–seeking behavior in individuals with symptoms suggestive of lung cancer, methods that consider lung cancer stigma as a barrier that can be addressed through public awareness and patient-targeted interventions should be included.

Does lung cancer attract greater stigma than other cancer types?

“…Stigma of cancer can influence engagement with prevention behaviours [17][18][19], help-seeking behaviours in the presence of symptoms [20,21], disclosure of the disease [6,22], and wellbeing following a diagnosis [23,24]. For lung cancer in particular, recent work has shown that higher stigma is associated with greater depression and lower quality of life and this is the case among smokers and non-smokers [25].…”

Combination of esomeprazole with chemotherapeutics results in more pronounced cytotoxic effect via apoptosis on A549 nonsmall-cell lung cancer cell line

“…The 5-year survival rate for nonsmall-cell lung cancer is estimated to be 10.5% for females and 9.4% for males (Caldarella et al, 2007). No symptoms are detected in the early stage of most lung cancer cases, which results in late diagnosis (Carter-Harris et al, 2014;Shim et al, 2014). Despite the recently developed diagnostic methods, the localization of detected tumors is not limited to the lungs.…”

Development of a Short Version of the Cataldo Lung Cancer Stigma Scale

“…Self-report, written surveys were administered by the researcher in person followed by a semi-structured interview to assess initial symptom perception and subsequent timing of medical help-seeking behavior. Findings revealed that in a model examining the relationship of healthcare system distrust, lung cancer stigma, smoking status, and timing of medical help-seeking while controlling for social desirability, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity, lung cancer stigma was the only statistically significant predictor (F [1, 82] = 2.44, p = 0) (Carter-Harris et al, 2014). …”