The Relationship between Healthcare Providers and Preventive Practices: Narratives on Access to Cancer Screening

Abstract

Cancer screening programs are public health interventions beneficial to early diagnoses and timely treatments. Despite the investment of health policies in this area, many people in the recommended age groups do not participate. While the literature is mainly focused on obstacles and factors enabling access to health services, a gap from the point of view of the target population concerns healthcare providers. Within the “Miriade” research–action project, this study aims to explore the dimensions that mediate the relationship between healthcare providers and preventive practices through the narrations of 52 referents and healthcare providers involved in breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening. We conducted ad hoc narrative interviews and used theory-driven analysis based on Penchansky and Thomas’ conceptualization and Saurman’s integration of six dimensions of healthcare access: affordability, availability, accessibility, accommodation, acceptability and awareness. The results show that 21 thematic categories were representative of the access dimensions, and 5 thematic categories were not; thus, we have classified the latter as the dimension of affection. The results suggest trajectories through which psychological clinical intervention might be constructed concerning health, shared health decisions and access to cancer screening.

Mental Health of Prostate Cancer Patients: Content Review on YouTubeTM

“…Among the various coping strategies, PCa patients can approach their illness with health-information-seeking behaviors, which have the potential to deeply impact decisions and adjust processes to cope with illness [ 15 ]. Given that health information accessibility has exponentially increased due to search engines and social media [ 16 , 17 , 18 ], it is critical for health care professionals to be cognizant of the types of information that are available to patients and the general public [ 19 , 20 ]. In this context, YouTube™ is a social media website with a worldwide diverse communities, where a massive number of videos are uploaded daily [ 21 , 22 , 23 ].…”

Emotions and Narrative Reappraisal Strategies of Users of Breast Cancer Screening: Reconstructing the Past, Passing Through the Present, and Predicting Emotions

“…In particular, various studies have explored the psychosocial factors that influence the rate of participation in cancer screening programs. As demonstrated in recent reviews, the main theoretical models adopted by the literature for examining and improving engagement in cancer screening can be classified into behavioral, functioning and process, and health-cultural models (Lemmo, Martino, Donizzetti, et al, 2022; Lemmo, Martino, Vallone, et al, 2022; Vallone et al, 2022). On the one hand, a large stream of studies in this field attribute a key role to intention and behavior linked to preventive choices (e.g., theory of planned behavior; Ajzen, 1991).…”

Cancer Prevention Sense Making and Metaphors in Young Women’s Invented Stories

“…According to the psychodynamic perspective [ 9 ], talking about cancer prevention brings into play the need to connect to health research, the study of mental representations concerning illness and health care, defense mechanisms and personality aspects connected to health choices [ 10 ]. The risk of cancer represents a critical experience for the psyche, which can defend itself with false ideas of integrity and absoluteness, refusing to admit the finitude of existence, therefore sheltering itself from the anguish of death [ 11 , 12 ] and from the traumatic illness experience [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. In addition, from a gender perspective [ 17 , 18 ], women are encouraged to take care of their bodies, to become protagonists of their own health, to take on this responsibility and to undergo medical examinations in the absence of symptoms, thus exposing themselves to the risk of discovering a sick body [ 19 ] in its intimate and unspeakable parts, which symbolize female sexual identity [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ].…”