Improving residents' knowledge of cancer prevention: are physicians prepared for prevention?

Abstract

Primary care physicians recognize the goal of integrating cancer-prevention strategies into clinical practice. However, there is little formal training in cancer prevention and early detection. This study describes the effectiveness of a cancer-prevention curriculum called "Recommendations for Cancer Prevention (ReCaP) for Residents" for primary care residency programs. The ReCaP for Residents curriculum was organized into eight instructional modules by organ site-specific areas for which there are established primary and secondary cancer-prevention recommendations. The modules include content outlines, learning objectives, slides, and case studies. In-house faculty and 21 residents of two family practice programs participated in an intervention comprising seven one-hour modular presentations during their regular summer teaching program. An established cancer-prevention knowledge test with 100 test items was used to test the residents' knowledge before and after the intervention; the data were analyzed by factor analysis with principal-component extraction and varimax rotation. The residents knew significantly more about cancer prevention after the ReCaP for Residents program. The mean overall prevention knowledge increased significantly (p < .05), and the scores of six of eight specific organ-site areas also increased. This study provided evidence that ReCaP for Residents was an effective curriculum for increasing residents' knowledge of cancer prevention. The authors recommend that more extensive programs of this type be implemented.