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Improving Cancer Risk Awareness Including Obesity as a Risk Factor for Cancer in a Small U.S. Community

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Abstract

Obesity is a risk for certain types of cancer; however, awareness of obesity as a risk factor for cancer is low. This study evaluated increases in cancer risk awareness, including obesity as a risk factor for cancer, from a quasi-experimental intervention that provided educational materials and community reinforcement for healthy living. The study uses data on participant’s awareness of cancer risk factors along with sociodemographic variables collected from in-person surveys (N = 863) at baseline (June 2011) and post intervention (June 2012). The average awareness that overweight and obesity are risk factors for cancer was low (35 %) compared to chewing tobacco (92 %), using tanning bed (73 %), and sunburn (97 %) at baseline. The intervention significantly increased participants’ awareness that overweight and obesity are risk factors for cancer. Based on regression analysis, the unadjusted intervention effect on cancer risk awareness was significant: 0.392 ± 0.165 (p value = 0.020) for matched participants and 0.282 ± 0.125 (p value = 0.024) for community participants. The adjusted intervention effect was significant in the matched participants (0.528 ± 0.189, p value = 0.006). Education, income, gender, and age had a significant impact on cancer risk awareness for the community participants. The results show that community intervention that incorporates community reinforcement can have the desired effect regardless of differences at participant level. Such interventions could be used to prevent cancer risk in communities that are at high risk.

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Acknowledgement

The authors would like to acknowledge the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas for providing the funding support for this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Policy and Management, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, 100 Foster Rd., Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Janani R. Thapa

  2. Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA

    Conrad Lyford

  3. Restaurant Hotel and Institutional Management, College of Human Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA

    Barent McCool

  4. Texas Tech University Health Science Center, Lubbock, TX, USA

    Barbara Pence

  5. University of Nevada Las Vegas, College of Hotel Administration, Las Vegas, NV, USA

    Audrey McCool

  6. Department of Agricultural Economics, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA

    Eric Belasco

Authors
  1. Janani R. Thapa
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  2. Conrad Lyford
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  3. Barent McCool
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  4. Barbara Pence
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  5. Audrey McCool
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  6. Eric Belasco
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Correspondence to Janani R. Thapa.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Thapa, J.R., Lyford, C., McCool, B. et al. Improving Cancer Risk Awareness Including Obesity as a Risk Factor for Cancer in a Small U.S. Community. J Canc Educ 32, 827–835 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-016-1060-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-016-1060-z

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