Attitudes and Behaviors of Primary Care Physicians with Respect to Cancer Prevention

Abstract

A survey of primary care physicians in the New YorkINew Jersey metropolitan area was carried out to determine the attitudes and behaviors of different physician groups such as general practitioners and family practitioners concerning cancer prevention and management. Fiftysix percent of the 1,345 physicians who received the questionnaire completed and returned it. The authors focus on the cancer prevention behaviors of general practitioners, family practitioners, and internists in relation to (1) providing advice and literature on smoking cessation, (2) teaching breast self-examination, and (3) instructing patients about the seven warning signs of cancer. Physicians' attitudes about cancer screening and aggressive treatment are also evaluated. In general, a lower percentage of general practitioners provided information about cancer prevention to patients than did family practitioners and internistsalthough this difference was small in relation to the high level of cancer prevention behaviors reported by all physicians. General practitioners also had significantly more negative attitudes about the efficacy of cancer screening and the value of aggressive treatment for cancer. The authors discuss the possible reasons for these differences in the context of other group differences and review the implications for cancer prevention programs targeted to the public.