Health beliefs about fecal occult blood test in an average-risk population

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Background: Mexico has the 3 rd place in the Latin American region in prevalence of colorectal cancer (CRC).Among the screening methods for CRC is the fecal occult blood test (FOBT) for people at average risk.Beliefs about CRC and screening methods may influence the adoption of screening methods.Objective: To analyze the association between knowledge, sociodemographic variables and health belief model dimensions according to the stages of adoption of FOBT in people aged 40 years or older.Method: Thirty-five hundred and fifty-two respondents to the health belief model scale for CRC and FOBT participated.Results: A significant association was found between the stages of FOBT adoption and knowledge of diagnostic methods for CRC (χ 2 : 56.6 [3]; p = 0.000), significant differences were obtained for the dimensions of the belief model except for perceived severity (p = 0.055).Conclusions: The realization of FOBT is associated with knowledge of screening methods, being affiliated to a health service and advanced stages of change.Susceptibility beliefs, benefits, barriers, perceived self-efficacy and health motivation are what make the difference between initial and advanced stages of FOBT adoption.