Petrova Dafina, Pollán Marina, Garcia-Retamero Rocio, Rodríguez-Barranco Miguel, Catena Andrés, Castillo Portellano Lucia, Sánchez Maria-José
Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, Granada, Spain; Escuela Andaluza de Salud Pública (EASP), Granada, Spain; CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain.
CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain; National Center for Epidemiology, Health Institute Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
Int J Nurs Stud. 2023 Apr;140:104466. doi: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2023.104466. Epub 2023 Feb 16.
About half of all cancers are diagnosed in adults older than 65, making them the age group at highest risk of developing this disease. Nurses from different specialties can support individuals and communities in the prevention and early detection of cancer and should be aware of the common knowledge gaps and perceived barriers among older adults.
The goal of the current research was to investigate personal characteristics, perceived barriers, and beliefs related to cancer awareness in older adults, with a special focus on perceptions about the influence of cancer risk factors, knowledge of cancer symptoms, and anticipated help-seeking.
Descriptive cross-sectional study.
Participants were 1213 older adults (≥65 years old) from the representative national Onco-barometer survey conducted in 2020 in Spain.
Questions on the perceived influence of cancer risk factors, knowledge of cancer symptoms, and the Spanish version of the Awareness and Beliefs about Cancer (ABC) questionnaire were administered in computer-assisted telephone interviews.
Knowledge of cancer risk factors and symptoms was strongly related to personal characteristics and was limited among males and older individuals. Respondents from lower socio-economic background recognized fewer cancer symptoms. Having personal or family history of cancer had opposite effects on cancer awareness: It was related to more accurate symptom knowledge but also to lower perceptions about the influence of risk factors and more delayed help-seeking. Anticipated help-seeking times were strongly influenced by perceived barriers to help-seeking and beliefs about cancer. Worry about wasting the doctor's time (48% increase, 95% CI [25%-75%]), about what the doctor might find (21% increase [3%-43%]) and not having enough time to go to the doctor (30% increase [5%-60%]) were related to more delayed help-seeking intentions. In contrast, beliefs that reflected higher perceived seriousness of a potential cancer diagnosis were related to shorter anticipated help-seeking times (19% decrease [5%-33%]).
These results suggest that older adults could benefit from interventions informing them about how to reduce their cancer risk and addressing emotional barriers and beliefs associated with help-seeking delays. Nurses can contribute to educating this vulnerable group and are in a unique position to address some barriers to help-seeking.
Not registered.
约一半的癌症患者在65岁以上的成年人中被诊断出来，这使他们成为患这种疾病风险最高的年龄组。不同专业的护士可以在癌症预防和早期检测方面为个人和社区提供支持，并且应该了解老年人中常见的知识差距和感知到的障碍。
当前研究的目标是调查老年人与癌症认知相关的个人特征、感知到的障碍和信念，特别关注对癌症风险因素影响的认知、癌症症状知识以及预期的求助行为。
描述性横断面研究。
参与者是2020年在西班牙进行的具有代表性的全国肿瘤晴雨表调查中的1213名老年人（≥65岁）。
在计算机辅助电话访谈中，询问了关于癌症风险因素感知影响、癌症症状知识以及西班牙语版癌症认知与信念（ABC）问卷的问题。
癌症风险因素和症状的知识与个人特征密切相关，在男性和老年人中较为有限。社会经济背景较低的受访者识别出的癌症症状较少。有个人或家族癌症病史对癌症认知有相反的影响：它与更准确的症状知识相关，但也与对风险因素影响的较低认知以及更延迟的求助行为相关。预期的求助时间受到感知到的求助障碍和对癌症信念的强烈影响。担心浪费医生时间（增加48%，95%置信区间[25%-75%]）、担心医生可能发现的情况（增加21%[3%-43%]）以及没有足够时间去看医生（增加30%[5%-60%]）与更延迟的求助意愿相关。相比之下，反映出对潜在癌症诊断更高感知严重性的信念与更短的预期求助时间相关（减少19%[5%-33%]）。
这些结果表明，老年人可以从告知他们如何降低癌症风险以及解决与求助延迟相关的情感障碍和信念的干预措施中受益。护士可以为教育这个弱势群体做出贡献，并且在解决一些求助障碍方面处于独特地位。
未注册。
