Over the past decade, breast cancer has taken the lives of nearly one half million American women. Deaths attributed to breast cancer will occur disproportionately among women from ethnic minority groups. Despite campaigns for early breast cancer detection for all women, recommended screening guidelines are often not followed. According to the American Cancer Society, the key to surviving breast cancer is early detection and treatment. Numerous studies have focused on identifying barriers to breast cancer screening and on the mammography screening behaviors of ethnic minority women, yet little is known about the impact of past experiences on women's current health promotion behaviors. Prior studies have not explored women's past experiences pertaining to their breasts in relation to their current mammography screening behaviors. Despite a recent decline in breast cancer mortality, there has not been a significant change in breast cancer mortality rates among women from ethnic minority groups. The purpose of this study is to explore women's experiences across the life span pertaining to their breasts in relation to their current mammography screening behaviors and to compare experiences and mammography screening behaviors within and between racial/ethnic groups among women with and without a history of breast cancer. Preliminary data identified by the investigator strongly suggest women's experiences pertaining to their breasts and associated gender issues have an impact on women's current breast cancer screening behaviors. The investigator found that perceptions formed during puberty that left the women with feelings of shame regarding their breasts has a lasting effect that can have an impact on women's current mammography screening behaviors.
The specific aims of this study are to: describe women's current mammography screening behaviors and past experiences related to their breasts, explore similarities and differences in women's past experiences, clarify and expand categories and themes derived from the investigator's previous work and from Phase I of this study, describe categories and themes common across racial/ethnic groups, and disseminate the findings to both the health care and ethnic minority communities. The proposed study will use critical social theory and feminist perspectives as the framework to explore the impact of past experiences on low to middle income White, African American, Hispanic, and American Indian women's current mammography screening behaviors. A qualitative, exploratory approach with participant narratives, individual interviews, and focus group interviews will be used to explore women's experiences across the life span pertaining to their breasts and current mammography screening behaviors. Women will share stories of times in their lives when their breasts may have been especially important to them and stories about their mammography screening experiences. New knowledge gained from this study will provide health care professionals with fresh perspectives about covert influences on mammography screening behaviors, increase our understanding of barriers to mammography screening that have not been identified in other studies, and provide new insights for developing culturally relevant mammography screening interventions.
| Thomas, Eileen; Usher, LaToya (2009) One more hurdle to increasing mammography screening: pubescent, adolescent, and prior mammography screening experiences. Womens Health Issues 19:425-33 |
