- Alsacia L Sepulveda-Pacsi: 1 Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
- Grenny Hiraldo: 1 Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
- Keville Frederickson: 2 Pace University, Pleasantville, NY, USA.
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.