Emotional responses to the experience of cancer ‘alarm’ symptoms

Abstract

ObjectiveTo qualitatively explore associations between emotional responses to experience of cancer ‘alarm’ symptoms and help‐seeking in a community sample of adults.MethodInterviewees (n = 62) were recruited from a community sample (n = 2042) of adults aged ≥50 years, who had completed a health survey that included a list of cancer alarm symptoms. Participants who had reported an alarm symptom both at baseline and 3‐month follow‐up (n = 271), and who had consented to contact (n = 215), constituted the pool for invitations to interview.ResultsOver a third of participants (37%) described an emotional response to their symptom experience. In all these cases, there was evidence of awareness of the risk of cancer. Emotional responses were usually either classified as mild (‘worry’) or severe (‘fear’). Worry was often described in the context of a desire to seek medical help, either to rule out cancer or to minimise patient delay. In contrast, the ‘fear’ group described associations with death, the perceived incurability of cancer, and the consequence of a cancer diagnosis. Where the emotional reaction was fear, medical contact was seen as something to be avoided either because it had no value or because it was preferable not to be told a diagnosis.ConclusionIn this community sample, worry about the possibility of cancer was associated with help‐seeking, either for reassurance or as part of a ‘sensible’ strategy to deal with the risk. In contrast, fear was associated with avoiding help‐seeking or even thinking about cancer, which could lead to prolonged help‐seeking intervals. © 2015 The Authors. Psycho‐Oncology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Understanding middle‐aged and older adults' first associations with the word “cancer”: A mixed methods study in England

“…Death associations were more common among those with lower levels of education, from regions with higher cancer mortality, and among those with previous experience of cancer in others. This is consistent with suggestions by other authors that fatalistic cancer attitudes may be the indirect consequence of under‐education and poverty, leading to a focus on day‐to‐day survival rather than health‐promoting behaviours, and potentially causing delays in help‐seeking for symptoms and poorer cancer outcomes . Fatalistic beliefs in families and communities may be reinforced by witnessing this cycle of poorer cancer outcomes .…”

What do people fear about cancer? A systematic review and meta‐synthesis of cancer fears in the general population

“…Despite these limitations, we feel confident that we have presented a robust taxonomy of cancer fears in the context of cancer screening, because of the large number of triangulated studies, the diversity of the study samples, and the fact that the updated literature search only identified a single new subtheme. In addition, many of the fears described in this review have also been described in studies of other types of cancer screening, help‐seeking for cancer symptoms genetic cancer risk, and cancer patients, lending further support to the idea that the cancer fears identified in this review are universal.…”

The impact of body vigilance on help-seeking for cancer ‘alarm’ symptoms: a community-based survey

“…One potential explanation is the mixed role of emotion in help-seeking [31], where cancer worry can act both as a barrier and facilitator to contacting a health care professional [32]. …”