Knowledge, attitudes, and worries among different health literacy groups before receiving first invitation to colorectal cancer screening: cross-sectional study

Gabel, Pernille, Bach Larsen, Mette, Edwards, Adrian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6228-4446, Kirkegaard, Pia and Andersen, Berit 2019. Knowledge, attitudes, and worries among different health literacy groups before receiving first invitation to colorectal cancer screening: cross-sectional study. Preventive Medicine Reports 14 , 100876. 10.1016/j.pmedr.2019.100876

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Abstract

Background Colorectal cancer screening uptake is associated with knowledge, attitudes and worries about screening. People with higher levels of health literacy usually have higher screening-related knowledge, but its association with attitudes and worries is sparsely described. The aim of this study was to describe knowledge, attitudes, and worries about colorectal cancer screening among unscreened citizens, and to estimate the association between these and health literacy. Methods In a cross-sectional study 10,030 53–74 year-old Central Denmark Region citizens received a questionnaire assessing knowledge, attitudes, worry and health literacy. Socioeconomic and –demographic data were linked from Statistics Denmark after data collection. Results In total, 7142 (71.2%) questionnaires were completed. A good general level of knowledge was observed (4.91 and 5.13 out of 7 for men and women, respectively). Citizens tended to be positive towards screening (21.4 and 21.3 on a 4–28 range scale for men and women respectively), and showed low levels of worries (8.8 and 9.09 on a 3–15 range scale for men and women respectively). Knowledge decreased and worries increased with lower levels of health literacy. Further, attitudes tended to be more positive with higher levels of health literacy. Conclusions In general, citizens tend to have good knowledge, positive attitudes and few worries about colorectal cancer screening. People with lower health literacy could benefit from targeted interventions that address knowledge and worries about screening to support informed decision making.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Medicine
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	2211-3355
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	25 April 2019
Date of Acceptance:	22 April 2019
Last Modified:	05 May 2023 04:54
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/121939

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