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Home / American Journal of Health Behavior, Volume 27, Number 4

Delay in Seeking Advice for Symptoms that Potentially Indicate Bowel Cancer

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Objectives: To document knowledge, behavior and experiences of adults regarding potential signs and symptoms of bowel cancer. Methods: Telephone interviews with 1332 randomly selected adults, using similar questions to a survey conducted in 1988. Results: Twenty three percent (n=306) of respondents reported that they had experienced blood in bowel motions and about one third of these reported that they did not seek medical advice at all. Conclusions: As there has been no change in help seeking for potential symptoms of bowel cancer from similar studies conducted 15 years ago, there are concerns for encouraging behaviors that will result in the early detection of colorectal cancer.

Keywords: colorectal cancer; early detection

Document Type: Research Article

Affiliations: 1: Cancer Council NSW, Cancer Education Research Program, School of Medical Practice and Population Health, University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia. 2: The Univeristy of Manchester, Manchester UK. 3: Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Medical Practice and Population Health, University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia.

Publication date: 01 July 2003

More about this publication?

  • The American Journal of Health Behavior seeks to improve the quality of life through multidisciplinary health efforts in fostering a better understanding of the multidimensional nature of both individuals and social systems as they relate to health behaviors.

    The Journal aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the impact of personal attributes, personality characteristics, behavior patterns, social structure, and processes on health maintenance, health restoration, and health improvement; to disseminate knowledge of holistic, multidisciplinary approaches to designing and implementing effective health programs; and to showcase health behavior analysis skills that have been proven to affect health improvement and recovery.

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