Complicating “the good result”: narratives of colorectal cancer screening when cancer is not found

Abstract

Objectives: In this paper, we analyze narratives from a Photovoice project on colorectal cancer screening that was carried out with people who had undergone screening and were found to not have cancer.

Methods: Three groups, totaling eighteen participants, took part in the project, meeting multiple times over the course of approximately 10 weeks, and discussing photos they took about colorectal cancer screening.

Results: A common way in which the participants conveyed their screening experiences was through reflection on their own or other people's illnesses. Our findings highlight the multiple meanings of receiving a “good” or noncancerous screening result after undergoing cancer screening.

Conclusion: Such findings suggest that framing noncancerous results only in terms of relief or other positive emotions may ignore the realities people and their families face and their remaining concerns. This paper has broader implications for policies to reduce cancer disparities as well as public health and patient-provider communication about screening.

Keywords:

• colorectal < cancer type
• health care disparities
• narrative research
• photovoice
• qualitative < research methods

Acknowledgments

We thank the 18 people who participated in this study. We also thank our research assistants, Natasan McCray, J. Kyle Cooper, Rebekah Jacob, and Nancy Mueller for their contributions to the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the National Cancer Institute (R21 CA147794, PI: James). Drs. Hunleth and James were supported by the Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities, a Community Networks Program Center (U54 CA153460 PI: Colditz). Funding also came from the Barnes Jewish Foundation and Siteman Cancer Center.