Cancer information overload: Association between a brief version of the CIO scale and multiple cancer risk management behaviours

International audienceObjectives: To demonstrate the best psychometric properties of the revised 5-item Cancer Information Overload (CIO) scale over the 10- and 8-item versions, for both English and French native speakers, and to explore the relationships between CIO and several cancer risk management behaviours in a large sample of caregivers, cancer survivors and healthy subjects.Methods: 2809 participants (2568 from France, 241 from Australia) from two cancer survivor networks answered a self-administered questionnaire. After assessing the psychometric properties we studied the impact of CIO on health behaviours using multivariate logistic regression.Results: Internal consistency assessment and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) showed satisfactory results (α = 0.87 and 0.83, ω = 0.87 and 0.83, RMSEA = 0.078 and 0.081 for the 8-item and 5-item versions respectively), as well as multi-group CFA where measurement invariance was partial for one item only in each version. CIO was independently associated with smoking, sunburns, and rare skin checks, but not with alcohol misuse.Conclusion: The 5-item version of the CIO scale showed adequate psychometric properties and discriminant association with multiple prevention behaviours.Practice implications: The 5-item CIO scale is valid and can help push research forward in the domain of disease prevention and message acceptance. Its role in clinical practice remains to be determined