McKern, Ping (2024) Explore Diagnosis and Treatment Delays in Queensland Rural Cancer Patients. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Delays in diagnosis and treatment could adversely impact treatment outcomes and reduce survival rates. To understand whether the cancer treatment interval has been delayed, the contributing factors associated with such delays, and which subgroups are likely to present with advanced cancer stage. Face-to-face quantitative questionnaires-based structured interviews were conducted with 811 cancer patients who travelled to metropolitan areas for cancer treatment in 2017. 610 participants were selected. Data were collected on DOB, gender, cancer stage, home address, cancer types, diagnosis and treatment date. A binomial test was used to calculate the cancer treatment delay versus the Optimal Cancer Pathway (OCP), revealing that 73% of the cancer patients had been delayed. A correlation analysis showed that age was not associated with delay (r = -.05, p = .440) but it was negatively associated with the cancer stage with a small effect size (r = -.22, p < .001). Chi-square analysis revealed that remoteness significantly contributed to cancer treatment delay with a large effect size (χ² = 218.32, p < .001). Cancer type was significantly associated with cancer stage at diagnosis with a large effect size (χ² = 70.13, p < .001). Breast cancer was more likely to present with an advanced cancer stage than other cancer types. Those findings add to the literature on Queensland cancer care, which provides specific information to advise policymakers to allocate resources more effectively and prioritise urgent diagnosis and treatment needs of breast cancer to allow more lives to be saved in Queensland's rural population.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
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| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Current – Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Wellbeing (1 Jan 2022 -) |
| Supervisors: | Dr. Ayre, Susannah |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 28 Jan 2026 01:34 |
| Last Modified: | 28 Jan 2026 01:34 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | cancer, delay, diagnosis and treatment, optimal care pathway, rural |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1701 Psychology > 170106 Health, Clinical and Counselling Psychology |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5203 Clinical and health psychology > 520304 Health psychology |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/53105 |
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