Patients' initial steps to cancer diagnosis in Denmark, England and Sweden: what can a qualitative, cross-country comparison of narrative interviews tell us about potentially modifiable factors?

Objectives: To illuminate patterns observed in International Cancer Benchmarking Programme studies by extending understanding of the various influences on presentation and referral with cancer symptoms.

Design: Cross-country comparison of Denmark, England and Sweden with qualitative analysis of in-depth interview accounts of the prediagnostic process in lung or bowel cancer.

Participants: 155 women and men, aged between 35 and 86 years old, diagnosed with lung or bowel cancer in 6 months before interview.

Methodological and Practical Issues in Cross-National Qualitative Research: Lessons From the Literature and a Comparative Study of the Experiences of People Receiving a Diagnosis of Cancer.

Social science and health services research have much to gain from cross-national qualitative research, yet the logistics involved in setting up such studies, especially where different languages and health systems are involved, can seem daunting. In this article, we highlight issues to consider and suggest some solutions, drawing both on the literature and examples from our own cross-national research. We highlight the issues involved with synchronizing staffing and funding, ensuring comparable methods, project management, and communication between research groups, the consequences of the different criteria for ethical approval for recruitment, the challenge of working with multiple languages, teams involving different disciplines and skill sets, and coordinating and timing data collection and analysis.

Advancing gender equality through the Athena SWAN Charter for Women in Science: an exploratory study of women's and men's perceptions.

Background: While in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia, higher education and research institutions are widely engaged with the Athena SWAN Charter for Women in Science to advance gender equality, empirical research on this process and its impact is rare. This study combined two data sets (free- text comments from a survey and qualitative interviews) to explore the range of experiences and perceptions of participation in Athena SWAN in medical science departments of a research-intensive university in Oxford, United Kingdom.

Methods: The study is based on the secondary analysis of data from two projects: 59 respondents to an anonymous online survey (42 women, 17 men) provided relevant free-text comments and, separately, 37 women participated in face-to-face narrative interviews.

Exploring the information needs of people living with a long-term indwelling urinary catheter: a qualitative study.

Aims: To explore the information needs of long-term indwelling urinary catheter users, the consequences for patients of inadequate information and how these needs could be met.

Background: Previous studies have drawn attention to the lack of information given to indwelling catheter users and how users would benefit from more. Little is known about the varied and detailed information needs of long-term indwelling catheter users.

Comparing transurethral and suprapubic catheterization for long-term bladder drainage: a qualitative study of the patients' perspective.

Purpose: To explore why men and women decide to have a suprapubic catheter, how the decision is made, and to compare people's experiences of suprapubic and transurethral catheterization for long-term bladder drainage.

Design: Narrative interviews followed by thematic analysis.

Subjects And Setting: Thirty-six long-term catheter users living in England, Wales, or Scotland were interviewed.

Drawing on Accounts of Long-Term Urinary Catheter Use: Design for the "Seemingly Mundane".

The design of the Foley catheter has not changed since 1937. Scientists interested in medical technology tend to focus on state-of-the-art designs for newsworthy specialties rather than the more mundane technologies of daily life. We interviewed 36 people living with a long-term urinary catheter in the United Kingdom, who described limitations of the current catheter design, including infections and complications and consequences for social life and relationships, and their perceptions of whose responsibility it was to improve the design.

Barriers to shared decisions in the most serious of cancers: a qualitative study of patients with pancreatic cancer treated in the UK.

Background: Less than 20% of patients with pancreatic cancer present with localized, potentially curable tumours. Even when potentially curative surgery is possible, mortality is high. Only 20-25% of patients who have had resected ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreatic head survive 5 years.

How users of indwelling urinary catheters talk about sex and sexuality: a qualitative study.

Background: An indwelling urinary catheter can solve the problem of incontinence and may be life-saving in individuals with retention, but it can cause problems such as infection and may have a negative impact on body image, sex, and sexuality.

Aim: To explore the individual's perceptions of how a long-term urinary catheter can affect body image, sex, and sexuality; and to help GPs to discuss the subject in consultations.

Design And Setting: Qualitative study of a diverse sample of individuals living with a long-term urinary catheter.

"It can't be very important because it comes and goes"--patients' accounts of intermittent symptoms preceding a pancreatic cancer diagnosis: a qualitative study.

Objective: This article explores how people with pancreatic cancer interpreted prediagnostic signs and symptoms, and what triggered them to seek medical help for symptoms that occurred intermittently.

Design: Thematic analysis of prediagnostic symptom descriptions drawn from a qualitative interview study of people with experiences of pancreatic cancer.

Participants: 40 people affected by pancreatic cancer (32 patients and 8 relatives of people who had died).

Living with an indwelling urinary catheter.

Despite 450,000 people in the U.K. using long-term catheters, there is very little information available about the experience.

Changing a urethral or suprapubic catheter: the patient's perspective.

Understanding the patient's perspective in any area of health care is now recognised as being crucial to good practice, but little is known about patients' views on living with an indwelling urinary catheter. In this study, 36 people living with either a urethral or suprapubic catheter across the UK were interviewed. After thematic analysis, the authors interpreted what they learned.

Patients with pancreatic cancer and relatives talk about preferred place of death and what influenced their preferences: a qualitative study.

Objective: To explore reasons why people with pancreatic cancer, who are reaching the end of their lives, say they wish to die at home or elsewhere, and why preferences may change.

Design: Qualitative study using semistructured interviews followed by thematic analysis.

Setting: Respondents recruited from different parts of the UK during 2009/2010.

Disclosing a cancer diagnosis to friends and family: a gendered analysis of young men's and women's experiences.

Little is known about how young adults disclose their cancer diagnosis to family and friends, and whether there are similarities or differences between men and women. This article compares young adults' experiences of disclosing a cancer diagnosis, drawing on narrative interviews with 37 respondents aged 18 to 34 years. Most respondents were open about their diagnosis, and there were striking similarities in the difficulties that men and women described and in their desire to protect relatives.

What affects the uptake of screening for bowel cancer using a faecal occult blood test (FOBt): a qualitative study.

Screening can reduce bowel cancer mortality. The UK National Health Service Bowel Cancer Screening Programme (NHS BCSP), using the Faecal Occult Blood test (FOBt), is being introduced over three years in the UK, but in some areas uptake is disappointing. We sought to understand why some people decided to participate in screening for bowel cancer while others did not.

Why men in the United Kingdom still want the prostate specific antigen test.

The prostate specific antigen (PSA) test is widely used to screen men for prostate cancer, but its value in diagnosing prostate cancer in asymptomatic men is controversial. In 2001, the U.K.

Fertility issues: the perceptions and experiences of young men recently diagnosed and treated for cancer.

Purpose: To explore fertility issues for young men who had been diagnosed and treated for cancer and to examine communication problems surrounding these fertility issues.

Method: Narrative interviews were conducted with 21 young men previously treated for cancer in the United Kingdom. Eighteen talked about fertility issues at some length.

Interviewing people with terminal illness: practical and ethical issues.

The material gathered can provide valuable insight but interviewing those in the latter stages of their lives poses a number of difficult issues for nurse researchers. Alison Chapple's article explores some of the dilemmas involved and explains how one researcher sought to overcome them.

The specialist palliative care nurse: a qualitative study of the patients' perspective.

Background: Relatively little is known about patients' perceptions of the work and role of the specialist palliative care nurse. Understanding the patients' perspective can help to evaluate services, improve quality of care, and identify misunderstandings.

Objectives: To explore the experiences of those who said that they had a 'terminal illness', focusing on patients' perceptions of the work and role of these nurses.

Many people with epilepsy want to know more: a qualitative study.

Objective: To explore why, at the turn of the 21st century, many people with epilepsy still want more information.

Methods: Qualitative study with a maximum variation sample in the UK. We interviewed 38 men and women, 35 with epilepsy and three carers of people with epilepsy, recruited through GPs, neurologists, support groups and charities.

The role of humor for men with testicular cancer.

In this article, the authors examine how 45 men talked about "pure" and "applied" humor in qualitative interviews about their experience of testicular cancer. Most described using applied humor in work and social settings to challenge assumptions about the disease, and in health settings to manage feelings, hide embarrassment, reduce tension, share a sense of solidarity with others, or encourage others to examine themselves. Men also described their usually positive reaction to jokes made by others; jokes helped to dispel tension and reassured men that they were being treated as normal.

Lung cancer patients' perceptions of access to financial benefits: a qualitative study.

Background: Financial worries may add to the stress experienced by patients and their families, but they are often not discussed with health professionals. People with lung cancer usually have to give up work, and many are terminally ill.

Aim: To explore the financial concerns, perceptions and experiences of claiming benefits of people with lung cancer.