Measurement of community beliefs about colorectal cancer

Few educational campaigns have focused on bowel cancer, though studies have indicated that members of the community need and want current information about relevant issues. In order to facilitate research in this area, reliab le and valid measures of community attitudes are needed. Content validity o f a survey instrument was obtained through use of a Delphi process with Dir ectors of Education from the Australia Cancer Council and focus group discu ssions with informed members of the public. The subsequent survey of commun ity perceptions about colorectal cancer included a broad range of content a reas related to the risk of bowel cancer, preventing and coping with bowel cancer and beliefs about susceptibility and severity. The construct validit y of these content areas was investigated by use of a factor analysis and c onfirmation of an association with related predictor variables. Two measure s related to personal influence and anticipated coping responses showed fav ourable psychometric properties, including moderate to high levels of inter nal consistency and test-retest reliability. A test of the concurrent valid ity of these measures requires further development of instruments related t o colorectal cancer or adaptation of measures from other areas of health re search. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.