This article reviews the major attempts that have been made to assess the public's knowledge about cancer both in the United States and abroad. In addition, it reports on a recent study conducted in a small midwestern city that measured the public's understanding of cancer. This study was unique in that it was the first attempt to use a telephone survey method known as “random digit dialing” to estimate the public's knowledge about cancer. A 3% sample of a total of 13,646 residential phones was generated. Information was obtained from the respondents concerning their sources of information about cancer, knowledge of the most common sites of cancer, beliefs about the incidence of cancer, beliefs of the causes of cancer, knowledge of cancer's warning signals, and perceived steps that one could take to reduce his/her chances of getting cancer. Chi-squared tests of significance were performed for sex, age, and level of education of the respondent; significant differences were found for each of these variables. Furthermore, differences were observed between the respondents' answers on the present survey and recent American Cancer Society surveys.
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Luther et al. (1982) studied this question.