The associations between objective numeracy and colorectal cancer screening knowledge, attitudes and defensive processing in a deprived community sample

Samuel G. Smith*, Lindsay C. Kobayashi, Michael S. Wolf, Rosalind Raine, Jane Wardle, Christian Von Wagner

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

We examined associations between numeracy and sociocognitive factors associated with colorectal cancer screening uptake (n = 964). Nearly half (45.7%) of the respondents incorrectly answered a numeracy question (low numeracy). Low numeracy respondents were less knowledgeable about colorectal cancer (p <.001), less positive towards screening (emotional, p <.001 and practical, p =.001) and less likely to intend to participate in screening (p =.001). They also reported greater defensive processing of cancer information (p =.001). Sociocognitive factors fully mediated the relationship between numeracy and screening intention. Addressing numeracy issues may reduce inequalities in CRC screening participation, but communication strategies could be limited by the tendency process cancer information defensively.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1665-1675
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Health Psychology
Volume21
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1 2016

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This article summarises independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) under its Programme Grants for Applied Research Programme (Grant Reference Number (RP-PG-0609-10106). The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health. For the period of this research, Dr Smith was supported by a PhD studentship from the Medical Research Council (UK) and is currently supported by a Cancer Research UK Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Keywords

  • attitudes
  • colorectal cancer
  • health communication
  • health literacy
  • numeracy
  • screening

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Applied Psychology

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