Abstract
BackgroundThis study aimed to devise a Cancer symptoms Discrimination Scale (CSDS) suitable for China based on a cross-sectional survey.MethodsThe CSDS was developed using the classical measurement theory. A total of 3610 students from Yunnan province, China, participated in the cross-sectional survey. The test version of the scale was modified by the item analysis method, and after the official version of CSDS was developed, its reliability and validity were verified. A univariate analysis of variance and a multiple linear regression model were used to analyze the influencing factors of cancer symptoms discrimination among the university/college students.ResultsThere were 21 items in total for the CSDS, including 3 subscales --- common clinical manifestations (11 items), physical appearance defects (6 items), and drainage tube(s) wearing (4 items). This CSDS had good validity (GFI = 0.930, AGFI = 0.905, RMR = 0.013, I-CVIs> 0.80, and the Pearson correlation coefficient was satisfactory.) and reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.862, spearman-brown coefficient = 0.875). The multiple linear regression showed that certain factors may affect the students’ discrimination level against cancer symptoms (P < 0.05), including gender, major, current education degree, guardian’s highest record of formal schooling, self-rated health status, history of care for cancer patients, family relationship, ways of cancer knowledge acquisition, good/poor understanding of cancer-related information, degree of cancer fear, and their perception of cancer infectiousness.ConclusionThis CSDS, with good reliability and validity, can be used for the evaluation of the discrimination risk and levels against cancer symptoms among healthy students.
Highlights
This study aimed to devise a Cancer symptoms Discrimination Scale (CSDS) suitable for China based on a cross-sectional survey
The devising of the CSDS pilot version After the semi-structured interviews and literature reviewing, the research group screened out 21 cancer signs and symptoms that might cause discomfort, disgust, avoidance and rejection in healthy people
We found that students with more access to cancer knowledge were more likely to hold cancer symptoms discrimination, which may indicate that more access to cancer information does not guarantee the accuracy of the information itself or the correct understanding of relevant knowledge in students
Summary
This study aimed to devise a Cancer symptoms Discrimination Scale (CSDS) suitable for China based on a cross-sectional survey. Cancer often causes serious threats to patients’ mental and physical health [2,3,4], diminishes their quality of life [5, 6], and social support for the patients decreases along with the progress of the disease [7,8,9]. Though it causes heavy disease burden [10], it arouses low public awareness [11, 12]. Above reasons may further aggravate the public’s biased perception of cancer, and even lead to the stigmatization and marginalization of cancer patients
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