Predicting general practice attendance for follow-up cancer care.

Objective: To examine the role of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) in influencing patients' intention to attend follow-up visits with a general practitioner (GP).

Methods: A questionnaire based on the TPB was used to assess colorectal cancer (CRC) patients' intention to attend follow-up visits with a GP.

Results: TPB factors accounted for 43.3% of the variance of intention for follow-up visits. Attitude alone explained 23.3% of the variance. Attitude and presence of other comorbidities significantly affected intention to visit a GP (attitude: R(2)=0.23, F [1, 65]=4.35, p < .01; comorbidity: R(2)=0.13, F [1, 65]=3.02, p < .05).

Conclusion: Patients who believe their GP has the skills and knowledge to detect a recurrence and patients with other comorbidities have greater intention to visit their GP following treatment.