Associations Between Health Communication Modalities and Knowledge of Colon Cancer Screening Methodsy
Brian L. Jung
Introduction: Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-specific mortality for both men and women in the United States with an estimated 70,000 new cases each respectively and an estimated 53,000 deaths combined in 2006. Five-year survival rates for stage II colorectal cancer survival are between 70 and 80%. This indicates that screening could potentially save thousands of lives each year if everyone over the age of 50 were to be screened. The major cited reason for people not receiving screening is lack of knowledge.
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between health communication modalities and the effects on knowledge of colon cancer screening methods.
Methods: This population-based study used the National Cancer Institute’s Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) dataset. Descriptive statistics were first completed to describe the study population stratified by cancer diagnosis status and by knowledge of colon cancer screening methods. The outcome of interest was knowledge of colon cancer screening methods and the independent variables of interest were exposure to different media outlets. Univariate analysis was completed and identified confounders were adjusted for using multivariate logistic regression.
Results: Fourteen percent of respondents had knowledge of colon cancer screening methods. These respondents were more likely to be non-Hispanic white, married, females, 50 or older with a post baccalaureate degree earning in excess of $75,000 annually. Logistic regression analysis indicated that persons who read health information on the Internet or in newspapers or magazines within the past 12 months were more likely to have knowledge of colon cancer screening methods [OR=1.67 (1.18, 2.37); OR=1.61 (1.24, 2.08), respectively]. One other predictor found to be significantly associated with knowledge in the model was a post baccalaureate degree [OR=1.71 (1.24, 2.36)]. Persons who were less likely to have knowledge of screening methods were persons less than 50 years of age [18-34 OR=0.21 (0.14, 0.31), age 35-44 OR=0.47 (0.34, 0.64), age 45-49 OR=0.63 (0.43, 0.91)], those of Hispanic ethnicity [OR=0.39 (0.19, 0.83)], non-Hispanic Blacks [OR=0.42 (0.23, 0.76)], males [OR=0.39 (0.29, 0.51)], and persons with less than a High School education [OR=0.30 (0.10, 0.87)].
Discussion/Conclusion: Our data showed that reading health information on the Internet or in a magazine or newspaper was associated with a higher level of knowledge. Surprisingly, watching a health segment on the local news in the past 12 months was not significant. In addition, education was an important predictor. Being younger than 50, Hispanic or Black, male or having less than a High School education were associated with less knowledge of colon cancer screening methods. Therefore mass media usage of the Internet and newspapers and magazines to promote public health information remains a significant contributor. It is hoped that these results will help public health officials identify who to target for interventions regarding colon cancer screening and give them some insight on methods that are useful.
