Patient perceptions of CT imaging in a diverse patient sample

Objective: To describe patient perceptions related to CT and evaluate variation related to patient sociodemographic characteristics.
Methods: Institutional review board–approved survey of adult patients undergoing outpatient CT at a large academic hospital administered May 2016 to March 2017. The survey included questions about participant demographic and socioeconomic characteristics as well as scales that addressed five perceptual constructs related to their CT examination: knowledge, benefits, barriers, expectations, and trust. Two of these constructs use the Health Belief Model as a conceptual framework, and questions were adapted from the Benefits and Barriers Scale for Screening Mammography. Descriptive statistics were calculated for all variables. Heterogeneous choice models were used to evaluate associations between participant characteristics and the perceptual constructs.
Results: In all, 302 surveys were completed by a diverse patient sample (33% non-Hispanic white, 29% Hispanic or Latino, 24% black, 8% mixed or other race, 5% Asian or Pacific Islander, 2% American Indian or Alaska Native). A large majority of participants responded positively to CT examination perceptions for each item with: high knowledge (71%-97%), positive expectations (94%-98%), high trust (92%) and benefits (67%-93%), and low barriers (only 9%-17% reported). In addition, 26% of participants reported seeking information about the CT before their appointment, with calling their physician’s office the most common approach. The heterogeneous choice models found that responses to nearly all of the scale questions did not vary by sociodemographic characteristics, although in a larger sample some associations may be significant.
Conclusions: Among a diverse sample of patients, perceptions of CT examination were highly positive and similar according to sociodemographic characteristics.