African American Men’s Understanding and Perceptions About Prostate Cancer: Why Multiple Dimensions of Health Literacy are Important in Cancer Communication

Abstract

Prostate cancer (PrCA) is the most diagnosed cancer among men in the United States, especially among African American (AA) men. The purpose of this formative study was to explore the implications of applying Nutbeam's multidimensional health literacy framework to AA men's understanding of PrCA information. Participants were 25 AA men aged 45 and older in South Carolina. Their functional health literacy was assessed using two modified Cloze tests and the Shortened Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (S-TOFHLA). Men also participated in interviews or focus groups during which they were asked questions about PrCA risk, prevention, and screening. Transcripts were reviewed for recurrent themes and analyzed qualitatively using NVivo7. Mean S-TOFHLA was 28.28 (+/-1.98), implying "adequate" comprehension. Mean Cloze was .71 (+/-.05) for a Grade 8 document and .66 (+/-.04) for a Grade 13 document, also showing "adequate" comprehension. Cloze scores for the Grade 8 resource were lower for participants with less education (P = .047). Despite having satisfactory literacy test scores, results from interviews and focus groups revealed participants' limited understanding and misconceptions about PrCA risk. Many wanted information about screening and family history delivered word-of-mouth by AA women and church pastors as few of them had ever received or actively sought out PrCA resources. Using Nutbeam's framework, gaps in health literacy which were not adequately captured by the validated tools emerged during the interviews and focus groups. Study findings provide important implications for PrCA communication with AA men to correct misperceptions about cancer risk and motivate preventive behaviors.

Increasing Knowledge of Cardiovascular Risk Factors Among African Americans by Use of Community Health Workers: The ABCD Community Intervention Pilot Project

“…23 Further, health literacy tests may not capture the cultural attitudes, values, and beliefs that influence how a person receives and interprets information. 24 …”

Commentary: Building an Evidence Base for Promoting Informed Prostate Cancer Screening Decisions: An Overview of a Cancer Prevention and Control Program

“…14 It also is well-documented that AAs' spiritual needs play a pivotal role in influencing their participation in research. 16,17 However, there had been no previous study on PrCA education and informed decision-making in South Carolina that included AA men and women.…”

Team science for science communication

“…Studies have shown that ill-designed science communications can have no effect or can even lead to misunderstandings, misperceptions, and mistrust (34,35). Designers can forget that their audiences may not share the same scientific language, and therefore may misunderstand or tune out messages that include complex scientific language or visuals.…”