Development of the Harlem Witness Program for Educating Urban African American Women about Genetic Testing for Breast Cancer
Abstract
The major goal of the proposed study was to develop an innovative method of community outreach and education, geared toward both understanding and then reducing the barriers that African American women have toward genetic testing for breast cancer susceptibility. Although there are a number of risks associated with testing (e.g., insurance discrimination, distress) there are also a number of benefits, including that the information may help women decide upon specific steps to prevent the disease or to detect it at earlier, more curable, stages %. As the vast majority of research in this area has focused on White women, it is not clear what hinders African American women in undergoing-genetic counseling and testing. In addition, most of the published studies that included African American women in their samples did not focus on culture-specific factors that may affect African American women's decisions to undergo genetic counseling/testing.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2001
- Accession Number
- ADA401009
Entities
People
- Heiddis Valdimarsdottir
Organizations
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai