The subconscious mind drives 80 to 90 percent of human behavior, so the answer in short is yes. After seeing a study at last year’s ASCO showing that many people with advanced lung cancer never receive cancer care, I began to wonder if specific subconscious perceptions such as stigma, shame and hopelessness had an impact on lung cancer treatment rates.

To determine if such biases existed towards lung cancer, we partnered with researchers from Project Implicit to develop an Implicit Association Test. This test was designed to measure attitudes, stereotypes and other potential hidden feelings about lung cancer compared to breast cancer. With the help of 14 of the leading lung cancer advocates, nearly 1,800 people – including patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals and the general public – completed the test. We’re excited that the results are being presented at this year’s ASCO meeting (abstract #8017).

The results were eye-opening to me personally, as someone who has been in the oncology field and treated patients for more than 15 years. There was significant evidence suggesting a stigma against lung cancer and a strong negative attitude about the disease. And it turns out this finding was consistent across all the different types of participants, including doctors and patients. Although we’ve known for some time that lung cancer is not always caused by smoking, there are clearly biases remaining from this association in most of us – a "mental residue" of sorts.

We will continue to gather data through The Lung Cancer Project^™ to better understand the social psychology around lung cancer and how it impacts cancer care. I encourage you to visit our website or our ASCO booth (10005) to take the test and see what you really think about lung cancer.

-Chris

Download case study results