'Never once was I thinking the c-word': Parent perspectives on the facilitators and barriers to getting a childhood cancer diagnosis.

Parents were recalling events from a completed cancer journey, so details may be remembered selectively. Children interviewed alongside parents may have changed what parents said. The sample was not large enough for subgroup analysis. Families of children with central nervous system tumors were excluded, so the findings do not describe those trajectories. The study did not include practitioner perspectives, so it cannot show how providers interpreted symptoms. It describes experiences, not tested interventions or measured outcomes.

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The study is described as part of a larger initiative by the Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute.

Do not read these themes as evidence that a communication intervention will reduce diagnostic delay. This is a qualitative interview study of parent experiences; it did not test an intervention or measure outcomes.