Illness beliefs about cancer among healthy adults who have and have not lived with cancer patients.

BACKGROUND: Illness representations have been proposed as key determinants for facing health risks and managing disease, and consequently for health outcomes.
PURPOSE: This study aims to know and compare non-specialised illness representations of cancer among adults who had not suffered from cancer and who had/had not lived with cancer patients.
METHOD: The revised Illness Perception Questionnaire was adapted to assess illness perceptions among healthy people. Cancer representations were explored in a community-based sample of adults of both genders from different educational backgrounds and who had differing experience with cancer, none being a patient.
RESULTS: The participants' beliefs about cancer included both biomedical and folk knowledge. Compared to age, sex, and educational level, family experience with cancer (having lived or not with a patient) had the strongest impact on the contents of the representations on cancer. Further, people with a family experience with the disease, compared to those not having a relative diagnosed with cancer, reported significantly more symptoms and stronger emotional impact.
CONCLUSIONS: This study allowed us to establish the perceptions on cancer of non-patients with no specialised knowledge. Findings may help in designing and implementing tailored preventive interventions taking into account family experience with the disease, as well as interventions aimed at enhancing family and social care and support given to cancer patients.