ERIC Number: EJ818187
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1090-1981
EISSN: N/A
Perceptions of Health Promotion and Cancer Prevention among Adults in Working-Class Occupations and Neighborhoods
Goldman, Roberta E.; Barbeau, Elizabeth; Hunt, Mary Kay; Acevedo-Garcia, Dolores; Emmons, Karen M.; Gagne, Joshua; Sorensen, Glorian
Health Education & Behavior, v35 n6 p777-790 2008
A social-contextual approach to cancer prevention among participants associated with the working class may result in behavior-change messages that are more relevant to them and contribute to a reduction in health disparities among classes. This article reports findings from a qualitative study of adults in working-class occupations and/or living in predominantly working-class neighborhoods that was designed to explore the circumstances influencing perceptions of health promotion, disease prevention, and cancer-risk reduction. Participants made only a weak connection between cancer prevention and general health-promotion behaviors. Results suggest that the complexity of communicating cancer-prevention messages with this audience may be compounded by their unfamiliarity with cancer prevention and their lack of recognition that certain behaviors may reduce cancer risk. Therefore, developing messages that consider the social context of participants' lives and link cancer prevention with health promotion, while maintaining cancer prevention as a distinct subcategory, may prove to be an effective education strategy. (Contains 1 table.)
Descriptors: Neighborhoods, Working Class, Health Promotion, Prevention, Cancer, Risk, Social Environment, Behavior Change
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A