Cancer Information Seeking among Black and White Adults: Results from the 2003 and 2005 Health Information National Trends Surveys

Information seeking has significant impact on improving cancer preventive activities and health decision making. This study sought to compare Black and White adults on cancer information seeking and the choice of primary information sources. Non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White adults completed Health Information National Trends Surveys (HINTS) collected in 2003 and in 2005. The results of bivariate analyses showed that Whites were more likely than Blacks to be cancer information seekers for both years (2003: 49.0% vs. 40.8%, p < .001; 2005: 54.6% vs. 46.9%, p = .008). However, after controlling for sociodemographic variables, race was not significantly associated with cancer information seeking. Both racial groups increased their likelihood of cancer information seeking from 2003 to 2005, although the increase was only statistically significant for Whites ( p < .001). Health providers and the Internet were the top two most selected primary cancer information sources for both racial groups. These findings indicate that sociodemographic factors, such as gender, education, and cancer history, may shape the racial difference in health information seeking among the general population. Among all the information sources, health care providers and the Internet play the most important role in providing cancer-related information.