Knowledge and Attitudes of Healthcare Providers on Cancers in Firefighters

Objective To evaluate whether a targeted educational lecture improves health care providers’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to firefighter occupational cancer risk. Design, Setting, Participants This quality improvement study used a pre–post survey design at a primary care retiree clinic serving firefighters and police officers in San Antonio, Texas. Health care providers voluntarily completed questionnaires before and after an educational intervention. Intervention A thirty-minute educational lecture addressing firefighter cancer epidemiology, occupational risk factors, and prevention strategies. Main Outcome and Measures Primary outcomes included changes in knowledge of firefighter occupational cancer risk. Secondary outcomes assessed attitudes, self-reported behaviors, and post-intervention feedback using Likert-scale items. Results Forty-six providers completed the pre-intervention survey and twenty-six completed the post-intervention survey. Mean knowledge scores increased from fifty percent pre-intervention to seventy percent post-intervention (p = 0.00004). Correct identification of cancer as the leading cause of line-of-duty deaths increased from seventy-eight percent to one hundred percent (p = 0.00095). Recognition of firefighting as a Group 1 human carcinogen increased from seventy-four percent to one hundred percent (p = 0.0019). Providers reported high perceived importance of occupational screening and strong intent to integrate the information into clinical practice. Conclusion A brief, targeted educational intervention significantly improved primary care clinicians’ awareness of firefighter occupational cancer risk, highlighting an opportunity to enhance prevention and screening in family medicine settings.