The correlation between individuals’ attitudes toward cancer screening, cancer information overload, and healthy life awareness: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Abstract Aims: This study was conducted to determine the correlation between individuals’ attitudes toward cancer screenings, cancer information overload, and healthy life awareness. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, data were collected from 343 people through face-to-face interviews using the socio-demographic characteristics form, attitude scale for cancer screenings, cancer information overload scale, and healthy life awareness scale. Results: The mean age of the participants was 47.79±11.65 and 61.8% of them were women. Older participants had lower positive attitudes toward cancer screenings and healthy life awareness. Higher education level participants displayed more positive attitudes toward cancer screenings. The higher the level of education and income, the higher the cancer information overload. When their cancer information overload increased, their positive attitudes toward cancer screenings and their healthy life awareness, in turn, decreased. As their healthy life awareness increased, they displayed more positive attitudes toward cancer screening, as well. As the participants’ awareness in change, socialization, responsibility, and nutrition subscales of healthy life awareness scale increased, they had more positive attitudes toward cancer screenings. Conclusion: Consequently, it was determined that the participants had a high level of positive attitudes toward cancer screenings, a moderate level of cancer information overload, and a high level of healthy life awareness. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.