"The survey is not only a surveillance tool, but can be used to study relationships of how knowledge about health care is dependent on channels of communication," said Bradford Hesse, Ph.D., chief of NCI's Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch.

The researchers also looked at changes in cancer knowledge and beliefs, and worked with statisticians and geographic information systems specialists to create maps to visualize regional geographic variation, much like a weather map. These maps are created by using information from neighboring states to provide information for areas with relatively small sample sizes. The maps in this report will allow researchers and healthcare providers to visually identify areas of the country in need of improved - or targeted - health communication. The maps also illustrate knowledge about breast and colorectal cancer screening recommendations, as well as general knowledge about the human papillomavirus (HPV), cervical cancer, and lung cancer. The maps, as well as the data from both the 2003 and 2005 HINTS surveys, are available to researchers and healthcare providers throughout the country to utilize in their own programs and planning.


"Population-based surveys such as HINTS give us a rich source of knowledge about the awareness of the American public," said NCI Director John E. Niederhuber, M.D. "Our next step must be to research how best to translate newfound understandings of patterns and preferences into better ways of educating and serving all of our patients through cancer prevention, screening, treatment and survivorship."

"The HINTS survey reflects NCI's commitment to public data sharing and dissemination by making the science of cancer communication easily accessible to multiple audiences," said Robert Croyle, Ph.D., director of NCI's Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, which oversees the HINTS project. "The survey provides an invaluable snapshot of how adults use the myriad of information resources around them to learn about cancer"

For more information about cancer, please visit the NCI website at http://www.cancer.gov, or call NCI's Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4 CANCER (1-800-422-6237).

For more information about the Health Information National Trend Survey, please visit http://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/hints.

For more information on the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) the techniques used in this reporter, please visit http://srab.cancer.gov/headbang/

For more information about the NCI Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, please visit http://cancercontrol.cancer.gov

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