Self-Reliance, Social Norms, and Self-Stigma as Barriers to Psychosocial Help Seeking Among Rural Cancer Survivors with Cancer-Related Distress

Abstract

Objectives: Even when technology allows rural cancer survivors to connect with supportive care providers from a distance, uptake of psychosocial referrals is low. During our telemedicine-delivered intervention aimed at identifying rural survivors with high distress and connecting them with psychosocial care, fewer than 1/3 of those with high distress accepted a referral. The purpose of this research was to examine the reasons rural cancer survivors did not accept a psychosocial referral. Methods: We utilized a qualitative descriptive design to analyze data from interviews conducted with participants who had been offered a psychosocial referral during the intervention. Interviews were conducted 6 weeks following the intervention (n=14) and 9 months after the completion of the intervention (n=6). Results: Ultimately, none of the rural cancer survivors in our study engaged with a psychosocial care provider, including those who had originally accepted a referral for further psychosocial care. When explaining their decisions, survivors minimized their distress, emphasizing their self-reliance and the need to handle distress on their own. They expressed a preference for dealing with distress via informal support networks, which was often limited to close family members. No survivors endorsed public stigma as a barrier to accepting psychosocial help, but several suggested that self-stigma associated with not being able to handle their own distress was a reason for not seeking care. Significance of Results: Rural cancer survivors' willingness to accept a psychosocial referral may be mediated by the rural cultural norm of self-reliance, and by self-stigma. Interventions to address referral uptake may benefit from further illumination of these relationships as well as a strength-based approach that emphasizes positive aspects of the rural community and individual self-affirmation.