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Health Information Seeking and Cancer Screening Adherence Rates

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Abstract

Effective screening tools are available for many of the top cancer killers in the USA. Searching for health information has previously been found to be associated with adhering to cancer screening guidelines, but Internet information seeking has not been examined separately. The current study examines the relationship between health and cancer Internet information seeking and adherence to cancer screening guidelines for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer in a large nationally representative dataset. The current study was conducted using data from the Health Information National Trends Survey from 2003 and 2007. The study examined age-stratified models which correlated health and cancer information seeking with getting breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening on schedule, while controlling for several key variables. Internet health and cancer information seeking was positively associated with getting Pap screening on schedule, while information seeking from any sources was positively associated with getting colorectal screening on schedule. People who look for health or cancer information are more likely to get screened on schedule. Some groups of people, however, do not exhibit this relationship and, thus, may be more vulnerable to under-screening. These groups may benefit more from targeted interventions that attempt to engage people in their health care more actively.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences Pre-Doctoral Fellowship and the National Science Foundation Science Made Sensible Fellowship.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health Education Department, Borough of Manhattan Community College, 199 Chambers Street, Room N799-T, New York, NY, 10007, USA

    Yuliya Shneyderman

  2. Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery, Rochester, MN, USA

    Lila J. Finney Rutten

  3. Department of Public Health Sciences, Division of Biostatistics, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

    Kristopher L. Arheart

  4. Department of Public Health Sciences, Division of Health Services Research and Policy, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

    Margaret M. Byrne

  5. Department of Public Health Sciences, Division of Epidemiology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

    Julie Kornfeld

  6. Department of Public Health Sciences, Division of Prevention Science and Community Health, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

    Seth J. Schwartz

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  1. Yuliya Shneyderman
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  2. Lila J. Finney Rutten
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  3. Kristopher L. Arheart
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Correspondence to Yuliya Shneyderman.

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Shneyderman, Y., Rutten, L.J.F., Arheart, K.L. et al. Health Information Seeking and Cancer Screening Adherence Rates. J Canc Educ 31, 75–83 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-015-0791-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-015-0791-6

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