title: Workplace colorectal cancer-screening awareness programs: an adjunct to primary care practice?
abstract: Although regular screening can decrease morbidity and mortality from colorectal cancer, screening rates nationwide are suboptimal due to a lack of organized screening programs. Since workplace colorectal cancer-awareness programs can potentially mitigate both patient and physician barriers to screening, we assessed the workplace as a venue for implementing a colorectal cancer screening-awareness program. In this cross-sectional study, 3756 members of the Toronto Police Service attended an education session about colorectal cancer; 965 of these members gave their informed consent and completed a 5-item colorectal cancer risk-assessment questionnaire. Nearly one-third (30.9%, or 298/965) of this relatively young population (83.1%, or 802/965, < 50 years of age) were at average or above-average risk for colorectal cancer. In the Toronto Police Service population, the workplace was a useful adjunct to reliance on primary care physicians to raise awareness about this important public health issue. These findings should encourage the development of further Canadian workplace colorectal cancer-screening awareness programs.
authors.affiliation: Women's College Hospital, 76 Grenville Street, Rm BH-417, M5S 1B6 Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Akshay
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bagai
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Parsons
authors.forename: Brenda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Malone
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fantino
authors.forename: Lawrence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Paszat
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rabeneck
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009786:Occupational Health Services; D009864:Ontario / Q000453:epidemiology; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D016495:Police; D015995:Prevalence; D011320:Primary Health Care; D018570:Risk Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires