Table 1.

Initial Principal Components Analysis of 16 Knowledge, Attitude, and Belief Items, Survey on Colorectal Cancer Screening Among U.S. Veterans^a

Factor	Factor loading	Proportion of variance explained (Eigen value)	Cronbach α
Attitudes		0.22 (3.50)	0.63
Likely to get FS if friend recommended	0.69
Worried FS would be embarrassing	0.71
Worried FS would be painful	0.69
Likely to get FOBT if friend recommended	0.65
Worried FOBT would be embarrassing	0.65
Worried FOBT would be painful	0.68
Beliefs		0.10 (1.68)	0.06
How serious if found early	−0.04
Chances of survival if found early	−0.26
How serious if found late	−0.17
Chances of survival if found late	−0.12
Chances of getting colorectal cancer	−0.14
Knowledge		0.10 (1.60)	0.53
Heard of colorectal cancer	0.44
Heard of tests for colorectal cancer	0.37
Know of FS	0.22
Know of FOBT	0.47
Know testing age	0.31
Total percent of variance explained by three factors = 42%.

^aFS = flexible sigmoidoscopy; FOBT = fecal occult blood test.