Table 4.
Barriers to help seeking
| Barrier | Gender (n = 2,134) | Knew someone with cancer (n = 2,049) | Ethnicity (n = 2,132) | Deprivation (SIMD †) (n = 1,944) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % Yes (n) | Male (n = 1,032) | Female (n = 1,102) | Significance* | Yes (n = 1,266) | No (n = 783) | Significance* | White (n = 1,826) | BME #(n = 306) | Significance* | Q1 (n = 1,205) | Q2-5 (n = 739) | Significance* |
| Emotional | ||||||||||||
| Worried about what the doctor might find | 65.0 (639) | 78.3 (837) | χ2(1, 2052) = 44.81, p < 0.001 | 74.5 (905) | 68.0 (516) | χ2(1, 1973) = 9.98, p = 0.002 | 72.7 (1274) | 66.1 (197) | χ2(1, 2051) = 5.42, p = 0.002 | 72.7 (832) | 71.8 (515) | χ2(1, 1862) = 0.15, p = 0.694 |
| Too scared | 45.8 (452) | 68.2 (732) | χ2(1, 2059) = 105.3, p < 0.001 | 61.1 (750) | 51.7 (390) | χ2(1,1982) = 16.72,p < 0.001 | 58.0 (1023) | 53.0 (157) | χ2(1, 2059) = 2.58, p = 0.109 | 56.1 (646) | 59.1 (424) | χ2(1, 1869) = 1.69, p = 0.194 |
| Not confident to talk about symptoms | 41.4 (404) | 54.7 (578) | χ2(1, 2032) = 36.15, p < 0.001 | 49.2 (590) | 46.2 (349) | χ2(1, 1955) = 1.72, p = 0.190 | 48.4 (839) | 46.5 (139) | χ2(1, 2031) = 0.39, p = 0.533 | 47.2 (534) | 49.9 (356) | χ2(1, 1844) = 1.29, p = 0.256 |
| Too embarrassed | 37.8 (370) | 57.5 (612) | χ2(1, 2044) = 79.83, p < 0.001 | 49.2 (597) | 45.9 (346) | χ2(1, 1967) = 2.06, p = 0.151 | 48.1 (841) | 46.4 (137) | χ2(1, 2044) = 0.27, p = 0.601 | 46.9 (536) | 47.5 (388) | χ2(1, 1855) = 0.08, p = 0.774 |
| Family | ||||||||||||
| I wouldn’t want my family to find out | 34.3 (336) | 37.4 (395) | χ2(1, 2035) = 2.20, p = 0.138 | 36.7 (442) | 34.0 (257) | χ2(1, 1959) = 1.53, p = 0.217 | 36.3 (631) | 33.1 (98) | χ2(1, 2034) = 1.13, p = 0.289 | 37.6 (427) | 32.5 (232) | χ2(1, 1848) = 4.93, p = 0.026 |
| Service Barriers | ||||||||||||
| Difficult to talk to doctor | 25.6 (247) | 34.1 (358) | χ2(1, 2014) = 17.41, p < 0.001 | 30.9 (368) | 28.3 (211) | χ2(1, 1938) = 1.47, p = 0.226 | 30.4 (523) | 26.4 (78) | χ2(1, 2014) = 1.91, p = 0.167 | 30.2 (340) | 28.4 (200) | χ2(1, 1829) = 0.68, p = 0.408 |
| Worried about wasting the doctor’s time | 25.8 (251) | 32.6 (342) | χ2(1, 2022) = 11.09, p = 0.001 | 29.8 (357) | 27.8 (208) | χ2(1, 1947) = 0.81, p = 0.368 | 30.0 (520) | 24.4 (71) | χ2(1, 2022) = 3.83, p = 0.050 | 28.8 (324) | 28.3 (201) | χ2(1, 1836) = 0.05, p = 0.830 |
| Difficult to make an appointment | 22.5 (217) | 22.4 (235) | χ2(1, 2014) = 0.00, p = 0.983 | 23.4 (279) | 21.3 (158) | χ2(1, 1937) = 1.16, p = 0.282 | 21.6 (372) | 27.9 (82) | χ2(1, 2014) = 5.64, p = 0.018 | 22.5 (253) | 21.2 (149) | χ2(1, 1829) = 0.44, p = 0.506 |
| Practical Barriers | ||||||||||||
| Too busy | 20.6 (202) | 19.5 (206) | χ2(1, 2038) = 0.44, p = 0.506 | 19.5 (234) | 20.6 (156) | χ2(1, 1960) = 0.36, p = 0.548 | 19.2 (334) | 23.8 (71) | χ2(1, 2037) = 3.41, p = 0.065 | 19.6 (223) | 20.3 (144) | χ2(1, 1849) = 0.15, p = 0.695 |
| Other things to worry about | 16.4 (160) | 22.2 (235) | χ2(1, 2034) = 10.84, p = 0.001 | 18.9 (226) | 20.2 (153) | χ2(1, 1956) = 0.52, p = 0.472 | 18.8 (327) | 22.5 (67) | χ2(1, 2033) = 2.15, p = 0.142 | 18.9 (214) | 18.7 (133) | χ2(1, 1845) = 0.00, p = 0.948 |
| Difficult to arrange transport | 16.6 (162) | 12.1 (127) | χ2(1, 2027) = 8.54, p = 0.003 | 12.7 (152) | 16.3 (123) | χ2(1, 1950) = 4.79, p = 0.029 | 14.0 (242) | 16.2 (48) | χ2(1, 2026) = 1.02, p = 0.312 | 15.5 (176) | 12.7 (90) | χ2(1, 1840) = 2.83, p = 0.092 |
Notes: *Pearson’s χ2 test for 2x2 tables (i.e., Yes vs. No/Don’t know for each demographic variable). Statistically significant associations at the p < 0.05 level are emboldened.