Examining Primary Care Physicians' Intention to Perform Cervical Cancer Screening Services Using a Theory of Planned Behavior: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Abstract

BackgroundPromoting cervical cancer screening (CCS) is undoubtedly effective in combating severe public health problems in developing countries, but there are challenges to its implementation. Understanding the factors influencing primary care physicians' intentions to provide CCSs to rural women is crucial for the future implementation of screening programs. The aim of this study was to assess the intentions of primary care physicians to provide cervical cancer screening services (CCSSs) to rural women and their determinants.MethodsThis cross-sectional study included 1,308 primary care physicians in rural primary health care, and the data collection tool was developed based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), which included demographic characteristics, the basic constructs of TPB, and the degree of knowledge of CCSSs as an extended variable of the TPB model. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the relationships between each factor.ResultsPathway analysis found that TPB is an appropriate theoretical basis for predicting primary care physicians' intent to provide CCSSs (χ2/df = 2.234 < 3, RMSEA = 0.035, and SRMR = 0.034). Meanwhile, the structural equation model showed that attitude (β = 0.251, p < 0.001), subjective norm (β = 0.311, p < 0.001), perceived behavioral control (β = 0.162, p < 0.001), and knowledge level (β = 0.152, p < 0.01) positively predicted primary care physicians' intention to provide CCSSs.ConclusionsTPB model, with the addition of knowledge, was useful in predicting primary care physicians' intention to provide CCSSs for rural Chinese women. The findings of this study provide a reference for the government and hospitals to develop strategies to improve the intent of primary care physicians to provide CCSSs.

Influencing factors of health screening among retirees: an extended TPB approach

“…All hypotheses in the model were supported, confirming that TPB is an acceptable theoretical basis for this study. This finding is consistent with previous TPB-based studies conducted in the United States (80), China (81,82), and Europe (57).…”

Differences in influencing mechanism of clinicians’ adoption behavior for liver cancer screening technology between the leading and subordinate hospitals within medical consortiums

“…Even more remarkable, it revealed that the correlation between behavioral attitudes, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control was significantly greater in subordinate hospitals than in the leading ones. Given the disparity in financial support and medical resources between leading and subordinate hospitals within Chinese medical consortiums, especially subordinate hospitals in resource-poor areas confronted with constraints of fewer organizational resources and lower individual capabilities [ 50 ], medical staff in subordinate hospitals had fewer types of health technologies to choose, which would probably make them rely more on specific technologies and also tend to develop common beliefs toward regarding technologies [ 51 ].…”