Publication year: 2011
Source: Social Science & Medicine, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 18 February 2011
Karla, Unger-Saldaña , Claudia B., Infante-Castañeda
The conventional definition and classifications of breast cancer delay are based on arbitrary empirical time cut-offs. In general, studies of cancer delay are based on these traditional definitions of patient and provider delay and are essentially atheoretical. If we aim to better understand delay, a reconsideration of its traditional conceptualisation and study methods is warranted. We propose a multidimensional model of breast cancer delay grounded in data from in-depth interviews with symptomatic patients and nested in the theory of illness behaviour. Our results show that delay prior to the first encounter with health services has to do with more than…