Sample: Nineteen families (50 members) completed demographic and contextual data: Eighteen participated entire year. Families recruited from regional cancer clinics in a southern state.

Methods: Five visitations were made for completion of questionnaires on family functioning variables and participation in open-ended interviews describing the lived experiences related to diagnosis-seeking. Quantitative data analyzed by descriptive statistics; qualitative data used narrative analysis.

Findings: Diagnosis-seeking characterized by three phases each dominated by different care participants: self, primary and specialist providers. Diagnostic delays occurred in self-care and primary provider phases.

Conclusions: Identification of phases pointed to times and places where diagnostic delays occurred. Late stage diagnosis is a proxy variable for delays in diagnosis for this malignancy. Early targeted secondary prevention strategies can now be developed and tested.

Implications: Mapping of delay points in early diagnostic process shows need for women to be taught self-monitoring of their ovarian health, and primary care providers need to seek up-to-date continuing education. One delay reduction strategy is reconceptualization of individual risk factors, family cancer history, and a monthly symptom checklist to be a holistic indicator based on stable vulnerabilities and new information that signals change in basic processes are underway. This evidence-based research needs rapid dissemination to reduce diagnostic delays to obtain early treatment and impact longer survivability.

Back to Cancer Care
Back to 15th International Nursing Research Congress
Sigma Theta Tau International
July 22-24, 2004