The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #44697

Ann M. Taylor, MPH, CHES¹, Tamsen Bassford, MD, Lane P. Johnson, MD, MPH³, Mary Marian, MS, RD¹, Michael Kallen, MA⁴, and Anthony Restar, MA⁴. (1) Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Arizona, Arizona Health Sciences Center, 1501 N. Campbell Avenue, PO Box 245052, Tucson, AZ 85724, 520-626-6979, amtaylor@email.arizona.edu, (2) College of Public Health and College of Medicine, University of Arizona, PO Box 245052, Tucson, AZ 85724-5143, (3) Division of Academic Resources, University Of Arizona, PO Box 245120, Tucson, AZ 85724

As the U.S. healthcare system changes shifts to a more prevention-oriented model, and as patients become more knowledgeable about their own healthcare needs, it is imperative that future physicians receive relevant training and experience to become competent ‘patient educators’ regarding chronic disease risk reduction. Knowledge- and attitudinal-based surveys were administered to medical students, as part of an NCI-funded project (R25 CA #75259) to develop, implement and evaluate an integrated cancer prevention and health promotion curriculum in the 4-year medical degree program. The knowledge survey contains ten subscales to assess understanding of (a) specific cancer sites, (b) carcinogenic agents, and (c) health promotion strategies. Survey items include multiple-choice and vignette-type items, written in National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) format; survey formats are either paper- or web-based. The attitudinal survey consists of three scales, developed by Bellas, Asch, and Wilkes (2000), to assess beliefs about (a) disease prevention, (b) influence of social factors on health status, and (c) responsibility for caring for the poor. Responses to survey items are based on a 4- or 5-point scale: survey format is class email listserv-based. Baseline and follow-up surveys were collected using several different formats to keep pace with the rapidly changing technology. Preliminary results will be reported including (1) survey-specific findings, (2) comparisons of knowledge and attitudinal data, and (3) comparisons by format used. These findings are of particular interest since health knowledge and attitudes may influence learning patterns and targeted interests during medical school but may also affect future practice patterns.

Learning Objectives:

• List two reasons why medical school degree programs need to include disease prevention-oriented content and instruction in their curriculum. 2.Discuss the limitations of using various methods (paper-, email listserv- and web-based) of assessing knowledge and attitudes. 3.Discuss one advantage and one disadvantage of each of the assessment methods (paper, web-based, email) discussed in this session.

Keywords: Professional Training, Cancer Prevention

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.