Validity of the process of change for colorectal cancer screening among African Americans

Process of change (POC) is a construct of the transtheoretical model that proposes to promote healthy behaviors.

African Americans participate in colorectal cancer (CRC) screening less often than whites, while disease onset is younger, and incidence and mortality from CRC are higher.

POC items for CRC screening were administered to 158 African Americans, the majority of whom were female (75.9%) and were not employed (85.4%). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to validate four factors reflecting the POC sub-domains.

Support of the factor validity of the POC with internal consistency of standardized alpha for the four factors was found. A logistic regression showed predictive validity in predicting current screening stage for two of the four sub-domains.

These data support the application of the POC to prediction of CRC screening intention among African Americans.