Table 1 Colorectal cancer explanatory models

Acute illness

Patient: “So I’m thinking ‘It’s probably a bug. It’s probably going to work itself out on its own, and if it doesn’t, I’m going to go to the doctor…’”

Chronic illness

Patient: “I had a neighbor like several of my neighbors when I mentioned it said that literally everyone on the block…someone in their family had IBS. I thought that’s what it was.”

“Female” problems

Patient: “They just knew I wasn’t feeling good, and I told them I was having cramps. You know, sometimes those cramps just felt almost like labor paints. That’s why I thought it could be that cyst [that] was on my ovary.”