title: Coping strategies and patient delay in patients with cancer.
abstract: This study examined associations between avoidance and approach coping and patient delay in cancer patients (N = 1024). Approach coping was associated with short appraisal intervals (time from symptom discovery to recognition of symptom seriousness). Avoidance coping was associated with long appraisal intervals when adjusting for covariates. Help-seeking intervals (time from recognition of symptom seriousness to contact to general practitioner) were only associated with approach coping and only when adjusting for the influence of covariates. The results revealed a complex relationship between coping and patient delay and supported that normal processing of health threats implies avoidance and approach coping strategies.
authors.affiliation: Research Unit for General Practice and Research Centre for Cancer Diagnosis in Primary Care, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark. AFP@alm.au.dk
authors.forename: Anette Fischer
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.forename: Frede
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Olesen
authors.forename: Rikke Pilegaard
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zachariae
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vedsted
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D003718:Denmark; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors