A Study on the Behavioral Factors Related to Stomach Cancer Screening among Adults in a Rural Area

KIM, Young Bok; Lee, Won Chul

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the behavioral factors related to stomach cancer screening among adults in a rural area. The number of subjects were 270 who were consisted of 133(49.3%) of male and 137(50.7%) of female. To predict the behavior, we used the health belief model. Using methodology was self-questionnaire which included the perceived health status, the severity for stomach cancer, preventive knowledge for stomach cancer, the threat for stomach cancer, the experience of cue to action, the benefit of cancer screening and the barrier of participating screening. The associations between the behavioral factors and the experience and intention of examination of endoscopy were evaluated by the odds ratio(OR). The results were as follows : 1. 78.1% of subjects responded that they had the good health, and 56.3% of them perceived the severity of stomach cancer. The 49.6% of them were evaluated as the moderate on the preventive knowledge for stomach. Also 39.3% had the threat for stomach cancer, and 79.2% had the experience of cue to action. The almost of respondents thought the endoscopy as available method for stomach cancer screening. The major barrier factors on stomach cancer screening were fear to endoscopy, discomfort for endoscopy, high cost of examination and lack of time. 2. Although the experience for examination of endoscopy was showed to the difference by sex, age, educational level and BMI, it was not significant. However, the experience for examination of endoscopy was showed to the significant difference by the perceived health status(OR:3.47, 95% CI:1.27-9.51), the preventive knowledge for stomach cancer(OR:0.42, 95% CI:0.19-0.96) and the experience of cue to action(OR:2.57, 95% CI:1.05-6.34). 3. Also although the intention for examination of endoscopy was showed to the differences by sex, age and BMI, it was not significant. However, the intention for examination of endoscopy was showed to the significant difference by the benefit for endoscopy(OR:2.35, 95% CI:1.02-5.42) and the experience of stomach cancer screening(OR:3.47, 95% CI:1.78-6.78). In case of the preventive knowledge for stomach cancer and the experience of cue to action, it did not influence to the intention for examination of endoscopy.