Illness perception and delay in seeking help in women with breast cancer symptoms: An appraisal of self-regulation model

Delay in seeking help in prehospital delay phase is the most important factor to decline the survival probability and recovery in women with breast cancer symptoms. Several theoretical models has been investigated the etioilogy of delay in seeking help in patients with breast cancer symptoms.The one of the attractive model that provided appropriate framework for systematic investigation of pre-hospital delay (patient delay) and decisions for seeking treatment is Self-regulation model. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between illness perception and delay in seeking help in prehospital delay phase in women with breast cancer symptoms in framework of self-regulation model. This study was conducted with survey and cross-sectional method. Data were collected from 50 women with breast cancer symptoms that had refered to Shahid Ramzanzadeh Radiotherapy Center in Yazd city. These women were selected using convenient sampling. The instruments for gathering data were Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ) and Questionnaire of Delay in Seeking Help. Data were analysed using Pearson's correlation method and hierarchical multiple regression. The results showed significant direct correlation between emotional representation and appraisal delay (p<.05) and reverse correlation between illness consequences and appraisal delay (p<.05), and illness coherence and appraisal delay (p<.05). Hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that illness perception components explained for %26.9 of the variance in appraisal delay. Women's illness perceptions of breast cancer symptoms have significant effect on seeking help, particularly, on the symptom appraisal phase. This results, on the one hand, confirmate the validity of Self-regulation Model in explanation of delay in prehospital seeking help, and on the other hand have been showed the importance and effect of appraisal and interpretation of symptoms on seeking medical help and also on the behavioural and clinical interventions for breast cancer.