Smits, S;
Boivin, J;
Menon, U;
Brain, K;
(2017)
Influences on anticipated time to ovarian cancer symptom presentation in women at increased risk compared to population risk of ovarian cancer.
BMC Cancer
, 17
(ARTN 814)
10.1186/s12885-017-3835-y.
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Abstract
Background In the absence of routine ovarian cancer screening, promoting help-seeking in response to ovarian symptoms is a potential route to early diagnosis. The factors influencing women’s anticipated time to presentation with potential ovarian cancer symptoms were examined. Methods Cross-sectional questionnaires were completed by a sample of women at increased familial risk (n = 283) and population risk (n = 1043) for ovarian cancer. Measures included demographic characteristics, symptom knowledge, anticipated time to symptom presentation, and health beliefs (perceived susceptibility, worry, perceived threat, confidence in symptom detection, benefits and barriers to presentation). Structural equation modelling was used to identify determinants of anticipated time to symptomatic presentation in both groups. Results Associations between health beliefs and anticipated symptom presentation differed according to risk group. In increased risk women, high perceived susceptibility (r = .35***), ovarian cancer worry (r = .98**), perceived threat (r = −.18**), confidence (r = .16**) and perceiving more benefits than barriers to presentation (r = −.34**), were statistically significant in determining earlier anticipated presentation. The pattern was the same for population risk women, except ovarian cancer worry (r = .36) and perceived threat (r = −.03) were not statistically significant determinants. Conclusions Associations between underlying health beliefs and anticipated presentation differed according to risk group. Women at population risk had higher symptom knowledge and anticipated presenting in shorter time frames than the increased risk sample. The cancer worry component of perceived threat was a unique predictor in the increased risk group. In increased risk women, the worry component of perceived threat may be more influential than susceptibility aspects in influencing early presentation behaviour, highlighting the need for ovarian symptom awareness interventions with tailored content to minimise cancer-related worry in this population.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Influences on anticipated time to ovarian cancer symptom presentation in women at increased risk compared to population risk of ovarian cancer |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s12885-017-3835-y |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12885-017-3835-y |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s). 2018 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. |
| Keywords: | Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Oncology, Ovarian cancer, Symptom awareness, Symptom presentation, Health beliefs, Increased risk, BREAST SELF-EXAMINATION, HEALTH BELIEF MODEL, FAMILY-HISTORY, PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS, DELAYED PRESENTATION, PATIENT DELAY, AWARENESS, WORRY, UK, DIAGNOSIS |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Inst of Clinical Trials and Methodology UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Inst of Clinical Trials and Methodology > MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10047211 |
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