Cancer Worry Among Urban Dominican Women: A Qualitative Study

Background: 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. Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain a greater understanding of the cancer worry experienced by Dominican women. Design: Giorgi's descriptive existential phenomenological framework and methodology guided the study. Setting: Washington Heights/Inwood community, New York City, New York. Participants: Thirty-eight urban Dominican immigrant women were included in the study. Method: 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. Findings: Four essences unfolded: Cancer as Destiny, Faith, Influential Relationships, and Knowledge Acquisition. Conclusion: 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.