Hay Jennifer, Shuk Elyse, Cruz Gustavo, Ostroff Jamie
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA.
Qual Health Res. 2005 Oct;15(8):1074-85. doi: 10.1177/1049732305276682.
The perception of cancer risk motivates cancer risk reduction behaviors. However, common measurement strategies for cancer risk perceptions, which involve numerical likelihood estimates, do not adequately capture individuals' thoughts and feelings about cancer risk. To guide the development of novel measurement strategies, the authors used semistructured interviews to examine the thought processes used by smokers (N = 15) as they considered their cancer risk. They used grounded theory to guide systematic data coding and develop a heuristic model describing smokers' risk perception process that includes a cognitive, primarily rational process whereby salient personal risk factors for cancer are considered and combined, and an affective/attitudinal process, which shifts risk perceptions either up or down. The model provides a tentative explanation concerning how people hold cancer risk perceptions that diverge from rational assessment of their risks and will be useful in guiding the development of non-numerical measurements strategies for cancer risk perceptions.
对癌症风险的认知会促使人们采取降低癌症风险的行为。然而，常见的癌症风险认知测量策略，即涉及数值可能性估计的策略，并未充分捕捉到个体对癌症风险的想法和感受。为指导新型测量策略的开发，作者采用半结构化访谈来研究吸烟者（N = 15）在考虑自身癌症风险时所使用的思维过程。他们运用扎根理论来指导系统的数据编码，并开发了一个启发式模型，描述吸烟者的风险认知过程，该过程包括一个认知的、主要是理性的过程，即考虑并综合突出的个人癌症风险因素，以及一个情感/态度过程，该过程会使风险认知上升或下降。该模型为人们如何持有与对自身风险的理性评估不同的癌症风险认知提供了一个初步解释，并将有助于指导开发用于癌症风险认知的非数值测量策略。
