Table 3.

Focus group results of physicians’ attitudes and beliefs regarding CRC screening

THEME

SELECTED QUOTATIONS

Context: pre-existing attitudes and practices toward CRC screening

“Some patients are actually not happy with getting the occult blood testing; they ask for colonoscopy. They say the Americans are doing it … they wanted to bypass the FOBT.” (PEM, non-Pilot participant, 2010 Mar 29) “To me, the frustration is some patients who feel it’s [the FOBT kit] … a dirty thing to do and they don’t want to do it.” (PEM, non-Pilot participant, 2010 Apr 12) “People you’ve given it to, they come back for the 3- or 6-month follow-up ... ‘No, I didn’t do it,’ they’ve lost it, you … give them another kit … there’s a lot of wastage.” (PEM, non-Pilot participant, 2010 Apr 12) “In my opinion, the fecal occult blood has failed me many times … I continue to use it … for … completeness …but for the most part I recommend … colonoscopy.” (Non-PEM participant, 2010 Mar 29) “It’s a very tricky question … FOBT kits … are a wonderful tool for the population at large, but when you’re talking about your patient, one-on-one, it might not be the best screening. Once I get an initial screen colonoscopy … they are not due … for another 5 to 10 years for a repeat … then I might use the stool kits … for the years in between.” (Non-PEM participant, 2010 Mar 29) “With colonoscopies being so easy to perform and so accurate and so safe, I never had a mishap. I prefer … that route … no false positives and basically no false negatives.” (Non-PEM participant, 2010 May 6)

CRC—colorectal cancer, FOBT—fecal occult blood testing, PEM—patient enrolment model, Pilot—ColonCancerCheck Primary Care Invitation Pilot.