Priority Research Centre for Health Behaviour, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia.
Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton, NSW, Australia.
Psychooncology. 2018 Sep;27(9):2141-2147. doi: 10.1002/pon.4779. Epub 2018 Jul 3.
This study explored help-seeking behaviours, group identification, and perceived legitimacy of discrimination, and its potential relationship with perceived lung cancer stigma.
Consecutive consenting adults (n = 274) with a primary diagnosis of lung cancer within the previous 4 months were recruited at 31 outpatient clinics in Australia. A self-report survey assessed help-seeking, group identification, perceived legitimacy of discrimination, and perceived lung cancer stigma.
Services providing assistance from health professionals (69.5%) and informational support (68.5%) were more frequently used than emotional-based support. Only a small proportion (2.6%) of participants were unlikely to seek help from anyone, with the most popular sources of help being the general practitioner (91.0%), and oncologist/treating clinician (81.3%). One-fifth (21.1%) indicated they identified with being a lung cancer patient, and most did not perceive discrimination against lung cancer patients. Higher perceived lung cancer stigma was significantly associated with greater perceived legitimacy of discrimination (P < 0.001), but not help-seeking behaviours or group identification.
The relationship between lung cancer stigma and perceived legitimacy of discrimination may guide initiatives to reduce stigma for patients. It is encouraging that perceived stigma did not appear to inhibit help-seeking behaviours. However, further research in this emerging field is needed to investigate patterns of perceived stigma and help-seeking over time to identify how and when to offer support services most appropriate to the needs of lung cancer patients.
本研究探讨了寻求帮助的行为、群体认同和对歧视的感知合法性，以及它们与对肺癌耻辱感的潜在关系。
在澳大利亚的 31 家门诊诊所，连续纳入了在过去 4 个月内被诊断为肺癌的 274 名成年人。通过自我报告调查评估了寻求帮助、群体认同、对歧视的感知合法性以及对肺癌耻辱感的感知。
提供专业医疗人员帮助（69.5%）和信息支持（68.5%）的服务比提供情感支持的服务更常被使用。只有很小比例（2.6%）的参与者不太可能向任何人寻求帮助，最受欢迎的求助来源是全科医生（91.0%）和肿瘤学家/治疗医生（81.3%）。五分之一（21.1%）的参与者表示他们认同自己是肺癌患者，大多数人并不认为肺癌患者会受到歧视。较高的肺癌耻辱感与更高的歧视感知合法性显著相关（P<0.001），但与寻求帮助的行为或群体认同无关。
肺癌耻辱感和对歧视的感知合法性之间的关系可能为减少患者的耻辱感提供指导。令人鼓舞的是，感知耻辱感似乎并没有抑制寻求帮助的行为。然而，需要在这一新兴领域进行进一步研究，以调查随时间推移感知耻辱感和寻求帮助的模式，从而确定何时以及如何提供最适合肺癌患者需求的支持服务。
