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Health Literacy and Cancer Risk Perception: Implications for Genomic Risk Communication

Author

Listed:
  • Noel T. Brewer

    (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, ntba@unc.edu)

  • Janice P. Tzeng

    (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC)

  • Sarah E. Lillie

    (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC)

  • Alrick S. Edwards

    (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC)

  • Jeffrey M. Peppercorn

    (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC)

  • Barbara K. Rimer

    (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC)

Abstract

Background. As new genomic technology expands the number of medical tests available to physicians and patients, identifying gaps in our understanding of how best to communicate risk is increasingly important. We examined how health literacy informs breast cancer survivors' understanding of and meaning assigned to recurrence risks yielded by genomic tests. Methods. Study participants were posttreatment female breast cancer survivors ( N =163 ) recruited at a university breast cancer clinic. We assessed their health literacy (using REALM) and their interpretation of hypothetical recurrence risk results from a genomic test, presented in several verbal and numerical formats. Analyses controlled for women's objective recurrence risk, age, income, and race. Results. Women with lower health literacy gave higher mean estimates of recurrence risk for a hypothetical group of women with early-stage breast cancer than did women with higher health literacy (52% v. 30%, P

Suggested Citation

  • Noel T. Brewer & Janice P. Tzeng & Sarah E. Lillie & Alrick S. Edwards & Jeffrey M. Peppercorn & Barbara K. Rimer, 2009. "Health Literacy and Cancer Risk Perception: Implications for Genomic Risk Communication," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 29(2), pages 157-166, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:medema:v:29:y:2009:i:2:p:157-166
    DOI: 10.1177/0272989X08327111
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Andrea D. Gurmankin & Jonathan Baron & Katrina Armstrong, 2004. "Intended Message Versus Message Received in Hypothetical Physician Risk Communications: Exploring the Gap," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(5), pages 1337-1347, October.
    2. Erev, Ido & Cohen, Brent L., 1990. "Verbal versus numerical probabilities: Efficiency, biases, and the preference paradox," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 1-18, February.
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    2. Yaniv Hanoch & Talya Miron-Shatz & Mary Himmelstein, 2010. "Genetic testing and risk interpretation: How do women understand lifetime risk results?," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 5(2), pages 116-123, April.
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    5. S. Gatobu & J. F. Arocha & L. Hoffman-Goetz, 2014. "Numeracy and Health Numeracy Among Chinese and Kenyan Immigrants to Canada," SAGE Open, , vol. 4(1), pages 21582440145, February.

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