Table 2.

Cancer literacy survey items (correct answer in italics), pretest and posttest scores, and percent responsiveness

Question	N	Prescore (%)	Postscore (%)	% responsiveness	95% confidence interval (%)	p value
1. What is cancer? a. Cancer is a disease caused by mutations that leads to uncontrolled cell growth. b. Cancer is a virus that causes abnormal formations in the body. c. Cancer is a bacterial infection that causes abnormal processes in the body. d. Cancer is a metabolic disorder that causes changes in metabolism. e. Cancer is a mental disorder that causes changes in emotions.	346	93.4	98.3	4.9	2.6, 7.2	< .0001
2. What are the two major types of cancer? a. Solid and liquid b. Bone and organ c. Breast and lung d. Leukemia and metastatic e. All of the above	346	6.6	74.0	67.3	62.4, 72.3	< .0001
3. A benign tumor is cancerous. a. True b. False	331	62.5	87.9	25.4	20.7, 30.1	< .0001
4. What are common cancer risk factors? a. Age b. Carcinogens including environmental factors c. Obesity d. Viruses/infectious agents d. All of the above	343	78.7	97.1	18.4	14.2, 22.5	< .0001
5. What are some lifestyle choices that increase one’s likelihood of developing cancer? a. Smoking b. Unhealthy diet c. Risky behaviors d. All of the above e. None of the above	337	82.2	97.6	15.4	11.6, 19.3	< .0001
6. When cancer has metastasized is means it has: a. Spread to other parts of the body b. Spread to other parts of the originally affected organs c. Stopped spreading d. Been cured e. None of the above	330	70.6	92.7	22.1	17.6, 26.6	< .0001
7. A biopsy of a tumor is done to: a. Remove it b. Diagnose it c. Treat it d. Cure it e. None of the above	332	72.3	91.6	19.3	15.0, 23.5	< .0001
8. Cancer can impact populations or groups of people (for example, men versus women) differently? a. True b. False	343	77.6	97.7	20.1	15.9, 24.4	< .0001
9. How does Kentucky compare to other states in cancer rates? c. Kentucky is 15th in overall cancer incidence and mortality rates d. Kentucky is 1st in the nation in overall cancer incidence and mortality rates e. Kentucky has the lowest overall cancer incidence and mortality rates f. Kentucky has the same cancer incidence and mortality rates as other states g. None of the above	346	20.5	96.2	75.7	71.2, 80.3	< .0001
10. What four types of research are being conducted on cancer? a. Population/behavioral, transcriptional, clinical, systematic b. Basic, clinical, translational, population/behavioral c. Clinical, basic, qualitative, quantitative d. All of the above e. None of the above	327	11.6	41.3	29.7	24.7, 34.6	< .0001
Overall	349	55.8	84.9	29.1	27.4, 30.7	< .0001