Understanding the reasons why patients delay seeking treatment for oral cancer symptoms from a primary health care professional: An integrative literature review

Overall, this integrative review demonstrates the complexity surrounding the reasons why patients delay in seeking help for oral cancer treatment. The association between knowledge and patient delay has implications for information provision about cancer to those at risk of developing the disease. The relationship between socioeconomic status and patient delay behaviour warrants further investigation as this has been shown to be an influential factor in the study of patient delay. The meaning of many of the investigated psychosocial factors (e.g. an individuals' symptom interpretation/attribution, disclosure of symptoms to significant others, social priorities), have not been discussed in detail and the research is not theory driven.