A qualitative cross-country comparison of whether, when and how people diagnosed with lung cancer talk about cigarette smoking in narrative interviews

Objectives To compare and examine whether, when and how patients with lung cancer in three countries, with different survival rates, talk about cigarette smoking and its relationship with help seeking. Design A qualitative cross-country comparison with analysis of narrative interviews. Setting Participants in Sweden, Denmark and England were interviewed during 2015-2016. Interviews, using a narrative approach, were conducted in participants’ home by trained and experienced qualitative researchers. Participants Seventy two men and women diagnosed with lung cancer were interviewed within six months of their diagnosis. Results The English participants, regardless of their own smoking status, typically raised the topic of smoking early in their interviews. Smoking was mentioned in relation to symptom appraisal and interactions with others, including health professionals. Participants in all three countries interpreted their symptoms in relation to their smoking status, but in Sweden (unlike England) there was no suggestion that this deterred them from seeking care. English participants, but not Swedish or Danish, recounted reluctance to consult healthcare professionals with their symptoms while they were still smoking, some gave up shortly before consulting. Some English patients described defensive strategies to challenge stigma or pre-empt other people’s assumptions about their culpability for the disease. A quarter of the Danish and 40% of the Swedish participants did not raise the topic of smoking at any point in their interview. Conclusion The causal relationship between smoking and lung cancer is well-known in all three countries, yet this comparative analysis suggests that the links between a sense of responsibility, stigma and reluctance to consult is not inevitable. These findings help illuminate why English patients with lung cancer tend to be diagnosed at a later stage than their Swedish counterparts.