Abstract
We conducted a questionnaire survey on colorectal cancer screenings, methods employed to encourage people to undergo screening, and workplace approaches to individuals who need to undergo further examination. The subjects were from 644 businesses in the Hamada region of Shimane Prefecture that provided regular health checkups for employees on a contract basis with us (including 358 businesses in which screening for colorectal cancer was performed on a contract basis with us; implementation rate, 55.4%) in 2008. Responses were received from 391 businesses (response rate, 60.7%). Screening for colorectal cancer at the workplace was applied at more than half of the businesses, but the accuracy control was unclear, particularly at smaller businesses. Systematic screening was performed in very few cases, and was mostly left to the screening recipients themselves, the participating companies, and the screening organization. Actual colorectal cancer screening was conducted by screening organizations contracted for that purpose, and these organizations bear the responsibility for both accuracy control and increasing the percentage of examinees who undergo detailed examination. Screening organizations need to accurately comprehend the whole picture of the individuals who have undergone screening, those who need to undergo further examination, and the examination results. They also need to share such information with the examinees and companies in order to increase the percentage of examinees who undergo detailed examination. In addition to written invitations to screenings and notifications of examination results, approaches to individuals who need to undergo further examination for colorectal cancer in the present survey included recommendations by the individual’s supervisor or boss in 43.7% of responding businesses, which indicates that a certain level of effort is being made. In addition, 38.6% of the companies that obtained and understood the results of a cancer screening recommended a detailed examination once more to those individuals who had not yet undergone further examination. At companies where reporting the results of detailed examinations was compulsory, the rate of recommendations given for the detailed examination was high, at 81%. The percentage of examinees who underwent a detailed examination at these companies could not be determined in this study. Nevertheless, in addition to the fact that it seemed necessary, as with regular health checkups, to clarify the measures to be taken at the workplace for cancer screening, it seemed to be necessary to clearly define the role of screening organizations.
