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Fear of cancer is associated with cancer information seeking, scanning and avoiding: a cross‐sectional study among cancer diagnosed and non‐diagnosed individuals
Author(s) -
Nelissen Sara,
Beullens Kathleen,
Lemal Marijke,
Van den Bulck Jan
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
health information and libraries journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.779
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1471-1842
pISSN - 1471-1834
DOI - 10.1111/hir.12100
Subject(s) - cancer , medicine , information seeking , health information national trends survey , cross sectional study , clinical psychology , health information , health care , pathology , library science , computer science , economics , economic growth
Abstract Background Nowadays, there is an abundance of health and cancer information in the mass media. Because of this high amount of information, it is possible for individuals to find or incidentally encounter cancer information, but it is also possible to be overloaded by this information and, consequently, to avoid it. Previous studies have indicated that fear of cancer could be both positively and negatively related to behaviours such as screening, help‐seeking and information avoidance. Objective The aims of this study were (1) to assess the relationship between fear of cancer and cancer information acquisition and avoiding behaviour, (2) to examine whether this relationship was curvilinear, and (3) to determine whether this relationship was moderated by being diagnosed with cancer or not. Method Six hundred and twenty‐one cancer diagnosed and 1387 non‐diagnosed individuals were recruited through a convenience sample in Flanders (Belgium) and filled in a standardised survey questionnaire. Results The results showed a positive linear association between fear of cancer and information seeking, scanning and avoiding. Being diagnosed with cancer or not did not moderate this relationship. Conclusion Fear of cancer is positively associated with cancer information acquisition and avoiding behaviour. This suggests that fear of cancer predicts different behaviours in different individuals.