Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Lung Cancer Screening Health Belief Scales.
Lisa Carter-Harris, James E Slaven, Patrick Monohan and 1 others
PMID 27244666WHAT IT FOUND
New lung cancer screening belief scales seem to measure risk, benefits, barriers and confidence consistently in eligible smokers, but risk scores did not separate likely screeners from non-screeners.
Key findings
01Ten content experts rated all four scales as relevant, with overall relevance ratings from .88 to .92.
02Each scale produced consistent responses across items, with values from .80 to .92, above the study's .70 threshold.
03Screeners reported more perceived benefits, more self-efficacy and fewer perceived barriers than non-screeners, but perceived risk did not differ.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
More than 50% of surveys were collected online, which may have made the sample less diverse than the general population of long-term smokers. The sample was mostly non-Hispanic Caucasian (77.8%) and well educated (68.5% with some college or higher), so findings may not apply to more diverse populations. Few participants had completed lung cancer screening when the study was done, so screeners included people who only intended to screen. The paper tested how well the scales measure beliefs, not whether using them improves patient care or screening behavior. Perceived risk did not separate screeners from non-screeners, so that subscale may not capture what drives screening decisions in this group.
Declared interests
The paper is marked as receiving non-U.S. government and N.I.H. extramural research support. The supplied text does not include author conflict declarations.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat these scales as proven tools that will increase lung cancer screening. The study only tested how well the scales measure beliefs, and perceived risk scores did not differ between screeners and non-screeners.