Table 4.
Quotes illustrative of the screening‐specific attitude themes (Interview Study two)
| Participant | |
|---|---|
| Support screening: early detection, preparation, and reassurance | |
| “a cure could be round the corner, and if you're diagnosed early enough and being able to be sort of er put on hold… a cure might appear” | P2, M, X, 63 |
| “what I've heard from TV. I mean, as far as I'm aware is if you catch it early enough you can survive… whether that's true, I'm not too sure” | P7, F, X, 57 |
| “I'd prefer to know, you know ‘cause you could kind of get your affairs in order… I've got a big large, I've got five children… five grandchildren” | P4, F, X, 58 |
| “if they can do me a favour and get me some extra years for those grandkids… I might even be lucky enough to… walk them down the aisle” | P12, M, S, 68 |
| “Oh, it would be great for me [negative result], and probably I would try my best not to do it, not to smoke” | P17, F, S, 61 |
| “It's like a relief; it's something else off your shoulders, isn't it… Because you carry all this [expletive] about with you, thinking this, thinking that, and it's all negative stuff. And then you get to the truth [a negative result] and it's like ah! It's like a real buzz” | P18, M, S, 47 |
| Fear: diagnosis, hospitals, getting sick and death | |
| “I'm just frightened because I smoke a lot. I've been smoking since I was ten years of age… I think the shock [of a positive screen] would kill me” | P10, F, S, 63 |
| “they're maybe scared of hospitals, scared of dying… because a lot of people think, well, they go in with one thing and they catch all sorts” | P19, F, S, 65 |
| “he'd just literally be too scared. He hates hospitals… I know he's had bad experiences… And that's his attitude: “If I go in there I won't come out again” | P7, F, X, 57 |
| Avoidance: rather not know and wait until sick | |
| “I'd rather not know, you know, personally, and carry on as things are carrying on” | P12, M, S, 68 |
| “He had a pain in his lung when he was coughing and he never went anywhere… and when he went to the doctors… he was dead within three weeks” | P5, M, S, 56 |
| “They'd be frightened of knowing… my husband, he wouldn't dream of going to a doctor… He would rather not know. He'd rather just, you know, one day he's here, next day he's gone… I said to him, “The only time you'll see a doctor is when you're, you know, halfway upstairs or downstairs”… I think he would have to be on death's door before he actually sees the doctor” | P7, F, X, 57 |
| Too late: smoking damage and older age | |
| “I mean it doesn't really bother me now, ‘cause I think it's too late anyway, so I reckon the damage is already done anyway” | P3, M, S, 63 |
| “Like you know in any campaign they're running, yes the health benefits are great but believe me once you've smoked more than ten years you think if I've got it I've got it, there's nothing I can do about it” | P4, F, X, 58 |
| “I'd go now. I'd be scared to go. But I would go if I was younger, you know… at my age I can't imagine me surviving” | P10, F, S, 63 |
| “I would say from 25 onwards, to be honest… the younger, the better… they stand a chance to fight it. But with older people I don't know so much… I think that the younger persons… their body's younger, their organs are more… they are younger and healthier than an old person” | P22, F, X, 67 |
| Screening: approach and support | |
| “if they think someone is going to be there wagging the finger at them, that's it, it's out the window…”If you point at people and say, “Look, you've been picked out and we think you ought to be screened,” that will frighten them to death” | P23, M, X, 66 |
| “it's the way it's worded as well because a lot of people sort of go “oh” and panic” | P8, M, S, 52 |
| “Well, when you get this invitation you are thinking, oh I wonder if I've got it, that's why they've sent it to me” | P16, F, X, 67 |