141st APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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292171
Influence of gender on colorectal cancer knowledge, attitudes and intention to screen among African Americans


Sunday, November 3, 2013

Sheila McKinney, Ph.D. Candidate, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, Miami, FL
Richard Palmer, DrPH, Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, FIU Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Miami, FL
Chelsie Anderson, MA, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, Miami, FL
Introduction: There are gender differences among African Americans for colorectal cancer (CRC). Understanding why these differences exist facilitate developing effective, tailored health messages.

Methods: A convenience sample of African-American adults was recruited from a community health care center to participate in a cross-sectional survey on cancer screening behaviors. Participants answered questions about demographic characteristics, cancer knowledge, perceived risk, cancer worry and intention to screen for colorectal cancer (CRC). Analyses using univariate and bivariate methods were conducted to describe gender differences.

Results: A total of 336 participants completed the survey. The majority of participants were female (65%). There were differences in CRC knowledge between men (M=4.16, SD .78) and women (M=3.87, SD .93) with t(323)=2.84, p =.005. Almost half of the women (48.8 %, p=.009) thought men were more at risk for developing CRC. Women also feet less at risk for developing CRC than men (M=2.34, SD= .52 vs. M= 2.53, SD= .46) respectively at t(330)=3.29, p=.001. No differences for worry about having CRC (p=.191) or behavioral intention to screen were identified (p=.984). Finally, women disagreed more than men with the statements that their chance of developing CRC was high (66.7% vs. 40.5%, p<.001) and saw less likelihood to develop CRC compared to male respondents (75.7% vs. 55.8%, p=.001).

Conclusion: Women demonstrated less accurate information and lower perceived risk for developing CRC. Understanding that these differences by gender exist suggests that tailored messages are important to CRC screening and that they should be used more often to improve the effectiveness of screening programs.

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Chronic disease management and prevention
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs

Learning Objectives:
Identify potential challenges that baseline perspectives of the target audience may present to the effectiveness of colon cancer screening interventions. Discuss the role of gender in understanding colon cancer risk factors and perceived risk for colon cancer.

Keyword(s): Gender, Cancer Screening

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the research assistant dedicated fully to this project. In this capacity I was involved in the development and testing of the intervention tool, survey instruments and study methods. I was also the primary data collector and am currently conducting the data analysis for this study.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 2039.0: Factors that Influence Public Health Design: Understanding Perception and Increasing Knowledge