Cancer knowledge and disparities in the information age
Cancer knowledge and disparities in the information age
复制标题
DOI：
10.1080/10810730600637426
复制
发表时间：
2006-01-01
影响因子：
4.4
通讯作者：
Rakowski, William
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Viswanath, K.;Breen, Nancy;Rakowski, William
不断增加的信息流往往会导致不同社会经济地位(SES)群体之间的知识差距扩大，因为较高的SES群体比较低的SES群体更有可能以更快的速度获得这些新信息。这些知识上的差距可能为不同社会群体之间不同的危险行为和健康差异提供了部分但有力的解释。根据国家癌症研究所(NCI)进行的一项全国性传播行为调查--健康信息全国趋势调查(HINTS 2003)，我们研究了两个癌症话题的宣传与知识差距之间的关系：关于烟草和阳光暴露的知识以及它们与癌症的各自联系。对2003年HINTS数据的分析表明，SES组之间对癌症原因的不同知识水平是文献中广泛报道的癌症差异的一个潜在解释。显然，高收入和高学历与人们对肺癌和皮肤癌等主要癌症病因的认识有关，可能会使人们能够保护自己，将风险降至最低。数据还表明，更多的媒体关注可能会缩小知识差距，尽管适度的宣传或缺乏新闻报道实际上可能会扩大差距。最后，本文的研究结果表明，有必要考虑不同种族和民族之间的社会经济地位差异，而不是将这些群体视为一个整体来掩盖它们。
Increasing information flow often leads to widening gaps in knowledge between different socioeconomic status (SES) groups as higher SES groups are more likely to acquire this new information at a faster rate than lower SES groups. These gaps in knowledge may offer a partial but robust explanation for differential risk behaviors and health disparities between different social groups. Drawing on the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS 2003), a national survey of communication behaviors conducted by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), we examine the relationship between publicity and knowledge gaps on two cancer topics that received different levels of publicity: knowledge about tobacco and sun exposure and their respective links to cancer. Analyses of the HINTS 2003 data suggest that differential knowledge levels of causes of cancer between SES groups are one potential explanation of cancer disparities that have been extensively reported in the literature. It is evident that high income and high education are associated with awareness about causes of major cancers such as lung and skin, and may allow people to protect themselves and minimize their risks. The data also show that heavier media attention could attenuate the knowledge gaps though moderate publicity or lack of news coverage may actually widen them. Last, the findings in this article suggest that it is necessary to take into account the SES variation within different racial and ethnic groups rather than mask them by treating the groups as one.