African American Multi-construct Survey of Cultural Attitudes Relevant to Cancer

描述（由申请人提供）：2010年健康人的一个主要目标是消除健康差距。医学研究所和国家癌症研究所建议将教材和干预措施的文化适当性作为减少差异的一项战略。除了少数例外，非裔美国人男性和女性的癌症死亡率和死亡率高于白人，5年生存率低于白人。研究人员已经认识到，行为，包括与癌症预防和控制相关的行为，发生在社会背景下。因此，了解哪些社会和文化结构与癌症筛查有关以及如何进行似乎是适当的。行为和社会科学结构的测量要求我们能够以合理的准确度区分结构以及结构的维度。当前的文献回顾突出了与文化结构的测量相关的问题，包括操作化结构的策略，各种措施，心理测量特性的当前措施，学习结构的困难，以及同时而不是单独的相关维度。这种状况限制了我们确定文化态度和规范对癌症预防和控制活动的相对重要性的能力。为了进一步了解这一领域的知识，重要的是要有公认的已确定变量的衡量标准，以便容易地比较各种研究的工作。我们建议制定一项衡量社会文化态度的措施，利用与非裔美国人社区癌症筛查行为相关的文化价值观。结直肠癌（CRC）是非洲裔美国人男性和女性中第三大常见癌症，并有一套权威的筛查指南;因此，我们选择结直肠癌筛查作为我们的重点。非裔美国人文化态度多结构调查将提供一个易于管理的文化变量的措施。我们将使用项目反应理论（IRT），同时开发长，短和计算机适应版本的工具，能够快速，准确地评估多种文化结构。在这个项目的最后，我们将提供数据的计算机适应测试的文化结构和它们的相关性，结直肠癌筛查行为的非洲裔美国人。公共卫生相关性：这项研究将产生一组有效和可靠的调查项目，可以改善癌症研究中的文化测量，促进比较，并尽量减少研究项目之间的冗余工作。本研究还提供了文化结构与CRC癌症筛查态度和行为之间关系的数据。这些信息将用于制定更有效地针对非裔美国人社区的健康教育和宣传材料以及干预措施。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A major goal of Healthy People 2010 is the elimination of health disparities. The Institute of Medicine and the National Cancer Institute have suggested cultural appropriateness of education materials and interventions as one strategy to reduce disparities. With few exceptions, rates of incidence and mortality are higher and 5-year survival lower among African American men and women than Whites for the leading causes of cancer death. Researchers have recognized that behavior, including those relevant to cancer prevention and control, occurs in a social context. Thus, an understanding of which social and cultural constructs are related to cancer screening and how seems appropriate. Measurement of behavioral and social science constructs requires that we be able to make distinctions among constructs, as well as dimensions of constructs with reasonable accuracy. A review of the current literature highlights concerns related to the measurement of cultural constructs, including strategies for operationalizing constructs, the variety of measures, psychometric properties of current measures, and difficulties studying constructs, and their relevant dimensions simultaneously rather than individually. This state of affairs limits our ability to determine the relative importance of cultural attitudes and norms for cancer prevention and control activities. To further knowledge in this area it is important that commonly accepted measures of the identified variables exist so that work from various studies can be easily compared. We propose to develop a measure of socio-cultural attitudes that taps the cultural values linked to cancer screening behaviors in the African American community. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer among African American men and women and has an authoritative set of screening guidelines; thus, we have selected colorectal cancer screening as our focus. The African American Multi-Construct Survey of Cultural Attitudes will provide an easily administered measure of cultural variables. We will use item response theory (IRT) to simultaneously development long, short and computer-adapted versions of an instrument capable of allowing quick, accurate assessment of multiple cultural constructs. At the end of this project, we will provide data on the computer adapted test of cultural constructs and their relevance to colorectal cancer screening behaviors among African Americans. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This study will yield a core set of valid and reliable survey items that can improve the measurement of culture in cancer research, facilitate comparisons and minimize the redundancy of effort across research projects. This study also provides data on the relationship between cultural constructs and CRC cancer screening attitudes and behaviors. This information will be used in developing health education and promotion materials and interventions that more effectively target the African American community.