Lung cancer stigma predicts timing of medical help-seeking behavior.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To examine relationships among demographic variables, healthcare system distrust, lung cancer stigma, smoking status, and timing of medical help-seeking behavior in individuals with symptoms suggestive of lung cancer after controlling for ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and social desirability. DESIGN: Descriptive, cross-sectional, correlational study. SETTING: Outpatient oncology clinics in Louisville, KY. SAMPLE: 94 patients diagnosed in the past three weeks to six years with all stages of lung cancer. METHODS: Self-report, written survey packets were administered in person followed by a semistructured interview to assess symptoms and timing characteristics of practice-identified patients with lung cancer. MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES: Timing of medical help-seeking behavior, healthcare system distrust, lung cancer stigma, and smoking status. FINDINGS: Lung cancer stigma was independently associated with timing of medical help-seeking behavior in patients with lung cancer. Healthcare system distrust and smoking status were not independently associated with timing of medical help-seeking behavior. CONCLUSIONS: FINDINGS suggest that stigma influences medical help-seeking behavior for lung cancer symptoms, serving as a barrier to prompt medical help-seeking behavior. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: When designing interventions to promote early medical help-seeking behavior in individuals with symptoms suggestive of lung cancer, methods that consider lung cancer stigma as a barrier that can be addressed through public awareness and patient-targeted interventions should be included.

The Baptist Health Lexington evidence-based practice model: a 5-year journey.

There are numerous advantages to basing nursing practice on evidence. Improvements in the quality of patient care, better patient outcomes, decreased healthcare costs, and enhanced work satisfaction for nurses have been described in the literature. Baptist Health Lexington, a community hospital, has experienced a successful 5-year journey integrating evidence-based practice as a result of the development of the Baptist Health Lexington Evidence-Based Practice Model. This journey is described below. Yearly activities, examples of projects, and clinical outcomes are presented.

Psychometric properties of the Image of God Scale in breast cancer survivors.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To examine the psychometric properties of the Image of God Scale (IGS) in a clinical population. DESIGN: Descriptive, cross-sectional. SETTING: University and community oncology practices in the southeastern United States. SAMPLE: 123 breast cancer survivors no more than two years from completion of treatment. METHODS: Scale reliability was determined with the coefficient alpha. Instrument dimensionality was examined using principal component analysis. Construct validity was evaluated by examining correlations with other instruments used in the study. MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES: An individual's image of God. FINDINGS: Internal consistency was strong (anger subscale = 0.8; engagement subscale = 0.89). The principle component analysis resulted in a two-factor solution with items loading uniquely on Factor 1-Engagement (8) and Factor 2-Anger (6). Significant correlations between the IGS and religious coping support convergence on a God concept. Correlations with psychological well-being, psychological distress, and concern about recurrence were nonsignificant (engagement) or inverse (anger), supporting discrimination between concepts of God and psychological adjustment. CONCLUSIONS: The IGS is a unique measure of how God is viewed by the depth and character of His involvement with the individual and the world. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: The IGS may be a measure that can transcend sects, denominations, and religions by identifying the image of God that underlies and defines an individuals' worldview, which influences their attitudes and behaviors.