Predictors of time to hospital among people with colorectal cancer

Abstract

This retrospective, cross-sectional study aims to describe time to hospital, relating factors, and determine predictors of time to hospital among people with colorectal cancer. Multistage random sampling was used to yield a probability of 240 people with colorectal cancer visiting medical and surgical outpatient departments, oncology units, radiology units, endoscopic units, and inpatient departments. Research instruments consisted of personal information sheet, time to colorectal cancer diagnosis questionnaire, knowledge about colorectal cancer questionnaire (KR-20 = .786), The modified illness perception questionnaire-revised (a = .674 - .836), health care seeking behavior questionnaire (a = .706), and perceived seriousness of warning signs and symptoms questionnaire (a =.803). Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, and Stepwise multiple regression analysis.

The results revealed that time to hospital, starting from symptoms perceived to the date of first presentation to a physician in the hospital, ranged from 1 to 632 days, with the median of 32 days (IQR=77). Moreover, knowleadge of colorectal cancer in sub-scale of colorectal cancer screening method (B = -0.243), some sub-scales of cognitive illness perception, including consequence (sub-scale) (B = -0.163), timeline cyclical (sub-scale) (B = 0.176), and healthcare seeking behavior in dimension of self-medicating (B= 0.149) could collectively predict time to hospital among people with colorectal cancer with 48.70 % of the variance.

A further nursing intervention to reduce time to hospital should improve knowledge about the symptoms and screening method, enhance positive illness perceptions, and enhance appropriate healthcare seeking behaviors by early visiting a physician.