McQueen Amy, Vernon Sally W, Meissner Helen I, Rakowski William
Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research, University of Texas, School of Public Health, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
J Health Commun. 2008 Jan-Feb;13(1):56-79. doi: 10.1080/10810730701807076.
Risk perceptions and worry are important constructs in many theoretical frameworks used to develop cancer screening interventions. Because most cancers for which we have early detection or prevention strategies are gender specific, few investigations have examined gender differences. We examined gender differences in the magnitude of, and associations with, perceived risk and worry by cancer type. Our sample included 939 men and 1,580 women >or= 50 years old with no history of relevant cancers from the 2003 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS). Dependent variables included absolute and comparative perceived risk and worry for gender-specific (breast/prostate) and colon cancers. We examined demographics, health status, health behaviors, cancer beliefs, and cancer communication variables as correlates. Linear regression analyses and pairwise contrasts were conducted with SUDAAN. Men reported greater comparative perceived risk for developing cancers, whereas women reported more frequent cancer worry. For both genders, perceived risk and worry were lowest for colon cancer. Correlates of perceived risk and worry varied, and several associations were moderated by gender. Different risk messages and intervention strategies may be needed to influence males' and females' perceived cancer risk and worry. All effect sizes were small, and future prospective research is needed to confirm our findings.
在许多用于制定癌症筛查干预措施的理论框架中，风险认知和担忧是重要的概念。由于我们拥有早期检测或预防策略的大多数癌症具有性别特异性，因此很少有研究考察性别差异。我们按癌症类型研究了感知风险和担忧程度及其相关因素中的性别差异。我们的样本包括来自2003年健康信息国家趋势调查（HINTS）的939名年龄≥50岁且无相关癌症病史的男性和1580名女性。因变量包括针对特定性别的（乳腺癌/前列腺癌）和结肠癌的绝对和比较感知风险及担忧。我们考察了人口统计学、健康状况、健康行为、癌症信念和癌症沟通变量作为相关因素。使用SUDAAN进行线性回归分析和成对比较。男性报告患癌症的比较感知风险更高，而女性报告的癌症担忧更频繁。对于两性来说，结肠癌的感知风险和担忧最低。感知风险和担忧的相关因素各不相同，并且一些关联存在性别差异。可能需要不同的风险信息和干预策略来影响男性和女性的感知癌症风险和担忧。所有效应量都很小，未来需要进行前瞻性研究来证实我们的发现。
