Describing behavioral aspects of annual lung cancer screening participation: Application of the cognitive-social...

Continued participation in yearly screening is necessary to maximize the effectiveness of lung cancer screening (LCS) with low-dose CT to detect early-stage disease. Determinants of LCS adherence are multi-faceted, rely heavily on factors related to health behavior, and need to be better understood. This exploratory study applied social-cognitive theory to characterize key demographic and clinical factors associated with LCS-specific health information processing related to annual adherence, with the goal of informing future hypothesis generation.

This study employed a descriptive, cross-sectional survey of LCS-eligible individuals who had recently completed a low-dose CT and received results that recommended annual follow-up. Study participants completed a survey based on the Cognitive Social Health Information Processing model to describe health information processing and screening behaviors among individuals eligible for annual LCS.

The survey was completed by 143 LCS individuals with recommended annual follow-up, finding that this population has high self-efficacy about the LCS process, perceives the benefits as high, reports few barriers to continued annual screening, has low fatalism, but also reports suboptimal LCS-specific knowledge.

These findings expand the limited literature addressing psychosocial and behavioral aspects of continued LCS participation and provide valuable information for future communication with LCS participants.