Cancer Worry Among Urban Dominican Women: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Two thirds of respondents of a recent survey, primarily self-identified urban immigrant Dominican females, indicated that cancer was the health problem they worried about the most. The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain a greater understanding of the cancer worry experienced by Dominican women. Giorgi's descriptive existential phenomenological framework and methodology guided the study. Washington Heights/Inwood community, New York City, New York. Thirty-eight urban Dominican immigrant women were included in the study. Data were gathered using focus group interviews. All interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim from Spanish to English. The transcripts were analyzed using Giorgi's existential phenomenological data analysis process. Four essences unfolded: Cancer as Destiny, Faith, Influential Relationships, and Knowledge Acquisition. New knowledge was generated on the contextual factors that influence cancer worry among a major Hispanic subgroup. Implications for nursing research and practice are described.