title: Shedding light on women's help seeking behaviour for self discovered breast symptoms.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe women's help seeking behaviour (HSB) and the associated influencing factors on self-discovery of a breast symptom.
  
  
  METHODS
  A descriptive, correlational survey design was used. Following ethical approval, survey data were collected from women (n = 449) attending the breast clinics of two large urban hospitals within the Republic of Ireland.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The majority of women (69.9%; n = 314) sought help (by visiting their General practitioner, GP) within one month, 30.1% (n = 135) delayed help seeking for more than one month following symptom discovery and 16.7% (n = 75) delayed for three months or more. The factors most significantly associated with delayed HSB were knowledge around symptom identity (Odds Ratio (OR) = 4.80, p = 0.005); ignoring the symptom and hoping it would go away (OR = 10.72, p < 0.001) and women's belief that the symptom would persist for a long time (OR = 1.18, p = 0.023). Being afraid on symptom discovery (OR = 0.37, p = 0.005) was associated with reduced risk of delayed HSB.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is encouraging to see that the majority of women who find a breast symptom seek help promptly. However, a small cohort of women delay seeking help from their GP. HSB is influenced by multiple factors which can impact on patient outcomes. Findings are important for oncology nurses who have a key role to play in promoting breast awareness, prompt help seeking and early detection and treatment of breast cancer, amongst women.
authors: Catherine McAuley School of Nursing & Midwifery, Brookfield Health Sciences Complex, University College Cork, Ireland. Electronic address: mairin.omahony@ucc.ie.
authors: Máirín
authors: M
authors: O'Mahony
authors: Geraldine
authors: G
authors: McCarthy
authors: Paul
authors: P
authors: Corcoran
authors: Josephine
authors: J
authors: Hegarty
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D016504:Breast Self-Examination / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006786:Hospitals, Urban; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Breast cancer; Breast symptoms; Delay; Help seeking behaviour; Oncology nursing