IMPROVING VALIDITY OF SELF REPORTS OF CANCER SCREENING

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The specific aim of this proposal is to conduct a complex factorial experiment to evaluate four approaches to collecting autobiographical information that we hypothesize may help reduce over reporting of health promoting and disease prevention behavior. The methods to be evaluated include: a) the mode in which the data are collected from the respondent, b) asking about intention to obtain the procedure (a socially desirable behavior) before asking whether the behavior occurred, c) asking about barriers or problems that might keep them from getting the procedure (justification for not performing the behavior) before asking about whether they had received it, and d) asking about exceptions to the regularity with which they might report getting the examination as part of their annual physical examination, as a way of improving their estimates. We will focus this research on three specific cancer screening procedures: Pap tests, mammograms and breast examinations. Data will be collected from 800 women aged 55 and older who live and receive their health care in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois and who have lived in the area for at least five years. After completing interviews using either computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) or audio computer- assisted self interview (ACASI), we will ask respondents for permission to abstract their medical records in order to validate their self reports or cancer screening examinations. Analyses will focus on assessments of the practical utility of each experimental manipulation for improve the accuracy of self-reports.