Patients' initial steps to cancer diagnosis in Denmark, England and Sweden: what can a qualitative, cross-country comparison of narrative interviews tell us about potentially modifiable factors?

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

To illuminate patterns observed in International Cancer Benchmarking Programme studies by extending understanding of the various influences on presentation and referral with cancer symptoms.

Design

Cross-country comparison of Denmark, England and Sweden with qualitative analysis of in-depth interview accounts of the prediagnostic process in lung or bowel cancer.

Participants

155 women and men, aged between 35 and 86 years old, diagnosed with lung or bowel cancer in 6 months before interview.

Setting

Participants recruited through primary and secondary care, social media and word of mouth. Interviews collected by social scientists or nurse researchers during 2015, mainly in participants' homes.

Results

Participants reported difficulties in inte

SUBMITTER: MacArtney J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5702025 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature