Framing the onset of lung cancer biographically: narratives of continuity and disruption.

• Most patients are diagnosed with advanced lung cancer despite the presence of many and intense symptoms at diagnosis. This qualitative study aims to explore how people with inoperable lung cancer frame and conceptualize the onset of their sickness, to obtain knowledge which might facilitate earlier health care contact for people with potential lung cancer. Patients with inoperable lung cancer were recruited through a larger longitudinal study of 400 patients recruited consecutively from two university hospitals. The narrative analysis presented here is based on 91 narrative segments derived from audio-taped and transcribed qualitative interviews with 37 patients who survived the first year post diagnosis, complemented with data from previous interviews with the same people. Findings indicate a wide array of bodily experiences leading to diagnosis, including symptoms seen as related to other disorders, systemic complaints not conceptualized as symptoms or indications of a serious problem, and more rarely, symptoms triggering immediate action. In addition to the 'biographical disruption' often associated with chronic illness, this analysis indicates an alternative or parallel process involving 'biographical continuity', allowing for integration of past and present aspects of patients' lives.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap -- Kommunikationsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications -- Communication Studies (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Omvårdnad (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Nursing (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Cancer och onkologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Cancer and Oncology (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Lungmedicin och allergi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Respiratory Medicine and Allergy (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Aged

Aged

80 and over

Denial (Psychology)

Female

Health Behavior

Health Knowledge

Attitudes

Practice

Humans

Life Style

Lung Neoplasms

diagnosis

genetics

pathology

psychology

Male

Mental Recall

Middle Aged

Neoplasm Staging

Patient Acceptance of Health Care

psychology

Rationalization

Referral and Consultation

Sick Role

Smoking Cessation

psychology

Tobacco Smoke Pollution

adverse effects

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)