Dataset Information

Knowledge of symptoms, time to presentation and barriers to medical help-seeking among Omani women diagnosed with breast cancer: a cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To identify knowledge of breast cancer (BC) symptoms, time taken to consult a doctor and factors contributing to delays in medical help-seeking.

Design

A cross-sectional study of Omani women diagnosed with BC.

Setting

The two main teaching hospitals in Oman: Royal Hospital and Sultan Qaboos University Hospital.

Participants

Adult Omani women recently diagnosed with BC.

Tools

The Breast Module of the Cancer Awareness Measure and the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership questionnaire were used to collect data.

Results

A total of 300 women with BC participated (response rate: 91.0%). The mean age at diagnosis was 43.0±12.50 years and 33.5% were diagnosed at stage III or IV. Although most women (74.4%) recognised breast/armpit lumps to be a symptom of BC, less than half identified other symptoms, including breast/armpit pain (44.0%), changes in the position of the nipple (36.2%), redness (31.7%), fatigue (26.3%), weight loss (23.4%) and loss of appetite (20.8%). While most (91.6%) were aware that BC could be cured if detected early, only 66.4% sought medical help within a month of developing symptoms. Initial responses to symptoms included informing husbands (40.2%) or family members (36.5%). Barriers to seeking medical help included feeling scared (68.9%) and worried about what the doctor might find (62.8%). Highly educated women were more likely to recognise the following as BC symptoms: changes in nipple position (OR: 0.16, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.81), breast pain (OR: 0.10, 95%?CI 0.01 to 0.86) and unexplained weight loss (OR: 0.18, 95%?CI 0.04 to 0.88) (all p<0.05).

Conclusions

Although many Omani women with BC were aware of the importance of early diagnosis, most demonstrated inadequate knowledge of symptoms, did not prioritise seeking medical help and reported emotional barriers to help-seeking. More educational measures are needed to improve symptom recognition and address help-seeking barriers to minimise delays in diagnosis.

SUBMITTER: Al-Azri M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7825262 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Knowledge of symptoms, time to presentation and barriers to medical help-seeking among Omani women diagnosed with breast cancer: a cross-sectional study.

Al-Azri Mohammed M Al-Baimani Khalid K Al-Awaisi Huda H Al-Mandhari Zahid Z Al-Khamayasi Jasem J Al-Lawati Yaseen Y Panchatcharam Sathiya Murthi SM

BMJ open 20210121 1

<h4>Objective</h4>To identify knowledge of breast cancer (BC) symptoms, time taken to consult a doctor and factors contributing to delays in medical help-seeking.<h4>Design</h4>A cross-sectional study of Omani women diagnosed with BC.<h4>Setting</h4>The two main teaching hospitals in Oman: Royal Hospital and Sultan Qaboos University Hospital.<h4>Participants</h4>Adult Omani women recently diagnosed with BC.<h4>Tools</h4>The Breast Module of the Cancer Awareness Measure and the International Canc ...[more]

PMID: 33478965

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Project description:BackgroundYoung people are particularly vulnerable to experiencing mental health difficulties, but very few seek treatment or help during this time. Online help-seeking may offer an additional domain where young people can seek aid for mental health difficulties, yet our current understanding of how young people seek help online is limited.ObjectiveThis was an exploratory study which aimed to investigate the online help-seeking behaviors and preferences of young people.MethodsThis study made use of an anonymous online survey. Young people aged 18-25, living in Ireland, were recruited through social media ads on Twitter and Facebook and participated in the survey.ResultsA total of 1308 respondents completed the survey. Many of the respondents (80.66%; 1055/1308) indicated that they would use their mobile phone to look online for help for a personal or emotional concern. When looking for help online, 82.57% (1080/1308) of participants made use of an Internet search, while 57.03% (746/1308) made use of a health website. When asked about their satisfaction with these resources, 36.94% (399/1080) indicated that they were satisfied or very satisfied with an Internet search while 49.33% (368/746) indicated that they were satisfied or very satisfied with a health website. When asked about credibility, health websites were found to be the most trustworthy, with 39.45% (516/1308) indicating that they found them to be trustworthy or very trustworthy. Most of the respondents (82.95%; 1085/1308) indicated that a health service logo was an important indicator of credibility, as was an endorsement by schools and colleges (54.97%; 719/1308). Important facilitators of online help-seeking included the anonymity and confidentiality offered by the Internet, with 80% (1046/1308) of the sample indicating that it influenced their decision a lot or quite a lot. A noted barrier was being uncertain whether information on an online resource was reliable, with 55.96% (732/1308) of the respondents indicating that this influenced their decision a lot or quite a lot.ConclusionsFindings from this survey suggest that young people are engaging with web-based mental health resources to assist them with their mental health concerns. However, levels of satisfaction with the available resources vary. Young people are engaging in strategies to assign credibility to web-based resources, however, uncertainty around their reliability is a significant barrier to online help-seeking.

Dataset Information

Knowledge of symptoms, time to presentation and barriers to medical help-seeking among Omani women diagnosed with breast cancer: a cross-sectional study.

Objective

Design

Setting

Participants

Tools

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Knowledge of symptoms, time to presentation and barriers to medical help-seeking among Omani women diagnosed with breast cancer: a cross-sectional study.

Similar Datasets

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