8.5% (n = 5) reported Stage III, 6.8% (n = 4) reported Stage I, and
five participants did not respond.
The overall response to the question, “In general, how
concerned are you about eating healthy?” resulted in a mean
response of 4.4 ± 0.8 on a 5-point scale of 1 = very unconcerned
to 5 = very concerned. When comparing responses between
participants who had cancer and those without cancer, there was
not a difference (p = 0.599, Table 2). A large majority (91.4%) of
respondents with cancer indicated they were concerned or very
concerned with eating healthy, which was similar to responses
provided by those without cancer.
The results indicated that those with cancer were trying to eat
healthy every day as the mean response for cancer participants
responding to the item, “I try to eat healthy every day” was higher
(3.7 ± 1.1) compared to participants without cancer (3.2 ± 1.3, p =
0.048, Table 2). Also, participants with cancer agreed more with
the item, “I have a healthy diet” than those without cancer (p =
0.050) although the mean response of 3.4 ± 1.1 was between 3 =
neither agree nor disagree to 4 = agree (Table 2). There was not a
difference (p = 0.130) between the groups for the item that asked
participants to choose the answer that best described “How
healthy is your diet in general?” The responses ranged from 1 =
my diet is very unhealthy to 5 = my diet is very healthy. Those
with cancer had a mean score of 3.7 ± 1.1 and those without
cancer had a mean response of 3.4 ± 1.1 (Table 2).
Participants were concerned about receiving their daily
requirements for vitamin D and calcium; a score of 4.2 ± 1.1
was obtained for all participants with no difference (p = 0.642)
between the two groups (Table 2).However, results comparing
males and females discovered a difference (p = 0.042); women