| The purpose of the present study was to introduce and empirically test a model to explain cancer screening behavior, called the Integrated Cognitive Affective Cancer-screening Model (ICACM). The specific cancer screening behavior under investigation was the intention to perform an annual fecal occult blood test (FOBT) for colorectal cancer. This integrated model utilizes concepts from the Health Belief Model (HBM) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), but also incorporates the emotional-affective constructs that are believed to be of particular importance in the study of cancer screening behavior.;A total of 183 older adult participants (63 males and 120 females; age range 50 to 89 years old) were recruited for the present study using a snowball sampling technique. A self-report health survey questionnaire that contained demographic information, the Chronic Self-Destructiveness Scale, the Repression-Sensitization Scale, measures of perceived susceptibility, severity, costs, benefits, attitudes, subjective norms, self-efficacy, and negative affects toward FOBT was completed by each participant.;Hierarchical multiple regressions and structural equation modeling were employed to analyze the data. Findings suggest that gender, marital status, family history of colorectal cancer, education, income, Chronic Self-Destructiveness and Repression-Sensitization were related to several cognitive and emotional variables in the ICAM; however, they were not directly associated with the intention to perform a FOBT. Although the structural equation modeling analyses for the ICACM indicate a plausible model fit, the ICACM did not fit the data better than either the Health Belief Model or the Theory of Planned Behavior. The major concepts from HBM (i.e., susceptibility, severity, costs, and benefits) and TPB (i.e., attitudes and subjective norms) were found to significantly predict the intention to perform a FOBT. The only exception to this finding was self-efficacy, which was not significantly related to FOBT intention. Results also indicate that adding the additional emotional-affective constructs to HBM and TPB significantly improves both models' predictive power in terms of intention to perform a FOBT.;The limitations of the present study and the implications of these results in terms of developing a theoretical model or intervention for adherence to cancer screening behaviors are also discussed. |
