Delay in seeking help

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511543579.016

Delay in seeking help

from Psychology, health and illness

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2014

Edited by

John Weinman and

Suzanne E. Scott: Affiliation:
King's College London
Susan Ayers: Affiliation:
University of Sussex
Andrew Baum: Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Chris McManus: Affiliation:
St Mary's Hospital Medical School
Stanton Newman: Affiliation:
University College and Middlesex School of Medicine
Kenneth Wallston: Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University School of Nursing
John Weinman: Affiliation:
United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas's
Robert West: Affiliation:
St George's Hospital Medical School, University of London

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Summary

Following the detection of a symptom, the majority of individuals do not seek professional help, but instead do nothing or self-medicate (Freer, 1980). Whilst these responses may play a useful role in limiting the burden on healthcare services for benign and minor conditions, a continuing and important issue is delay in seeking help for symptoms that are indicative of life-threatening diseases. The intention of this chapter is to summarize the theoretical approaches used to study and understand help-seeking behaviour, with particular reference to delay in seeking help for symptoms of cancer and myocardial infarction (as these have been the most widely researched areas), and finally to discuss the implications of this research.

Delay in help-seeking or ‘patient delay’ (Pack & Gallo, 1938) is the time taken from the detection of a symptom to the first consultation with a healthcare professional for that symptom. This is distinct from ‘professional delay’ (the time from the first consultation with a healthcare professional regarding a symptom to the receipt of a definitive diagnosis). The overall duration of delay has been divided in such a manner because an undifferentiated measure like ‘total delay’ (the time from the detection of a symptom to the receipt of a definitive diagnosis) may confound the effects of multiple factors that influence delay (Safer et al., 1979). For instance, the factors that hinder a patient's decision to seek help following the self-discovery of a breast lump may be quite different from those that cause a delay in reaching a definitive diagnosis of breast cancer following the first consultation with a healthcare professional.

Type: Chapter
Information: Cambridge Handbook of Psychology, Health and Medicine , pp. 70 - 74

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511543579.016 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2007

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