CANCER CONTROL BEHAVIOR OF PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIANS

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There is a great need to improve primary care physician use of cancer control activities if we are to reduce mortality and morbidity from cancer through early detection and prevention. In order to develop interventions to this end, it is necessary to gain a better understanding of the factors affecting physician use of these activities. The specific aim of the proposed project is to apply attitude and behavior change theory to the identification and understanding of factors affecting physician rates of doing 9 different cancer control activities. The Theory of Reasoned Action will be used as a framework for studying and identifying beliefs, attitudes, past experiences, and environmental conditions that are predictive of these cancer control activity rates. Preliminary work has been conducted to develop a physician cancer screening attitude (PCSA) survey instrument. The survey instrument will be administered to a 50% sample of family physicians in Washington State. Assessment of behavior rates will be obtained through three types of measures: physician self-report, patient surveys, and chart audits. Physician self- report will be obtained on the survey instrument. Patient surveys and chart audits will be conducted in a subsample of 60 physicians' practices. Regression analysis of the survey and behavior rate data will be conducted to identify key beliefs, attitudes, practice characteristics, and other factors measured in the survey that are important predictors of rates of performing each cancer control activity.