Acceptance of Colorectal Cancer Screening Tests

Colorectal cancer is a painful and deadly disease but can often be cured if detected early enough. Although there are effective methods for an early detection, the attendance rates for those tests are relatively low, because the acceptance is low. The reasons for that can be either personal characteristics, circumstances, and/or test features (attributes). The focus of this book is on the last category. Three groups of people are normally involved in screenings for colorectal cancer and were asked for their feedback about these tests: patients (undergoing the tests), practitioners (performing most of the tests), and laboratory experts (analyzing some of the tests). Two studies conducted in Germany and the US identified the most relevant test attributes (pilot study) and analyzed these attributes on different levels regarding their effect on the willingness to use screening tests (main study). The quantitative information derived from these studies makes it possible to compare currently available screening tests for colorectal cancer with each other as well as with prospective tests (new level combinations based on the considered attributes) regarding their acceptance.