Arora Neeraj K, Hesse Bradford W, Rimer Barbara K, Viswanath K, Clayman Marla L, Croyle Robert T
Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892-7344, USA.
J Gen Intern Med. 2008 Mar;23(3):223-8. doi: 10.1007/s11606-007-0406-y. Epub 2007 Oct 6.
Ensuring access to high-quality cancer-related information is important for the success of cancer prevention and control efforts.
We conducted a population-based assessment of the barriers faced by people searching for cancer information.
Cross-sectional data from the National Cancer Institute's 2003 Health Information National Trends Survey.
A nationally representative sample of individuals in the USA (n = 6,369).
We assessed whether respondents had ever sought cancer-related information and examined ratings of their information-seeking experiences and beliefs regarding causes of cancer and its prevention. Linear and logistic regression models were estimated to determine predictors of negative experiences and associations between experiences and cancer beliefs.
Nearly one half (44.9%) of Americans had searched for cancer information. Many reported negative experiences, including the search process requiring a lot of effort (47.7%), expressing frustration (41.3%), and concerns about the quality of the information found (57.7%). Respondents lacking health insurance or a high school education experienced the greatest difficulty. Compared to those reporting the most positive experiences, information seekers reporting more negative experiences were more likely to report that almost everything caused cancer [odds ratio (OR) 2.0, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.5-2.6], that not much can be done to prevent cancer (OR 2.7, 95% CI 1.9-3.8), and that it is hard to know which cancer prevention recommendations to follow (OR 3.2, 95% CI 2.3-4.5).
While a significant proportion of the American public searches for cancer information, suboptimal experiences are common. Facilitation of information seeking will be critical for promoting informed decision making in cancer prevention and control.
确保获取高质量的癌症相关信息对于癌症预防与控制工作的成功至关重要。
我们对寻求癌症信息的人群所面临的障碍进行了基于人群的评估。
来自美国国家癌症研究所2003年健康信息全国趋势调查的横断面数据。
美国具有全国代表性的个体样本（n = 6369）。
我们评估了受访者是否曾寻求过癌症相关信息，并检查了他们对信息寻求经历的评价以及对癌症病因及其预防的看法。估计了线性和逻辑回归模型，以确定负面经历的预测因素以及经历与癌症信念之间的关联。
近一半（44.9%）的美国人搜索过癌症信息。许多人报告了负面经历，包括搜索过程需要付出很多努力（47.7%）、感到沮丧（41.3%）以及对所获信息的质量表示担忧（57.7%）。缺乏医疗保险或高中教育的受访者遇到的困难最大。与报告最积极经历的人相比，报告更多负面经历的信息寻求者更有可能报告几乎所有事物都能致癌[比值比（OR）2.0，95%置信区间（CI）1.5 - 2.6]，认为预防癌症能做的不多（OR 2.7，95%CI 1.9 - 3.8），并且很难知道该遵循哪些癌症预防建议（OR 3.2，95%CI 2.3 - 4.5）。
虽然很大一部分美国公众搜索癌症信息，但不理想的经历很常见。促进信息寻求对于在癌症预防与控制中推动明智决策至关重要。
