MEASURING PHYSICIAN READINESS TO CHANGE CANCER SCREENING - PRELIMINARY-RESULTS

Our objective was to describe the development and validation of an ins trument for measuring physician readiness to change cancer screening a nd counseling. We designed a cross-sectional survey of primary care ph ysicians. Participants were 745 enrollees in the Copic Insurance Compa ny, a physician liability insurer of more than 80% of Colorado's physi cians. A large percentage of physicians do not perceive a need to chan ge their screening patterns for eligible patients in both mammography and Pap tests. Approximately one third of the physicians are contempla ting screening more of their patients within the next six months for s igmoidoscopy, clinical skin, and oral cavity exams and counseling more of their patients on skin protection and dietary fat. Few physicians are planning significant changes in cancer screening and counseling wi thin the next month. Scales of readiness to change screening and couns eling, as well as an overall readiness-to-change scale, had high inter nal consistency: .81, .65, .84, for screening, counseling, and overall , respectively. We conclude that readiness to change may be a useful c onstruct for determining if and when physicians may be willing to make behavior changes. Moreover, the assessment of physician readiness to change may facilitate the tailoring of interventions designed to foste r physician behavior change and improve patient care.