Health Literacy in Pre-operative Gastrointestinal Cancer Patients Who Utilized Their Health Literacy, Starting from Initial Detection of Symptoms to Cancer Diagnosis

Abstract

Purpose : The purpose of this study is to investigate the mechanics and processes by which gastrointestinal cancer (GIC) patients utilized their health literacy awareness, starting from initial detection of symptoms to cancer diagnosis. Method : Participant observation and semi-structured interview data from 10 pre-operative GIC patients were analyzed using the grounded theory approach. Result : Core category is 'self-examination.' Results indicated that GIC patients detected the symptoms and hypothesized the cause of disease by managing the prior medical experiential knowledge and new medical information they collected. The patients were diagnosed with GIC after they consulted with a gastrointestinal (GI) doctor, a non-GI doctor or followup without further consultation. However, patients with no symptoms were diagnosed with GIC after they had access to a family doctor or had a regular medical examination. Conclusion : Pre-operative GIC patients examined themselves based on prior medical experiential knowledge, new medical information, and opinions of other people from the initial onset of symptoms. These observations explained the need for patients to be able to obtain new medical information. The observations suggested that providing appropriate medical information was essential for health literacy in pre-operative GIC patients. Furthermore, patients predicted the cause of symptoms and then decided to consult a doctor. Therefore, recognizing the symptoms might be a trigger for pre-operative GIC patients to search for and handle new medical information, prior medical experience and knowledge. GIC patients' health literacy might be initiated by symptoms.