Factors Affecting African American Women's Participation in Breast Cancer Screening Programs: A Qualitative Study of Uninsured Low Income Women
Abstract
The purpose of the current study is to elaborate the beliefs and culturally embedded meanings that a population of low income, uninsured African American women held toward breast cancer and breast cancer screening. During Year 02, we conducted technical analyses of completed Phase 1 interviews that were obtained from African American women who were eligible to receive, but who chose to decline, free screening mammograms. Results obtained to date suggest that screening mammograms are physically and emotionally difficult experiences for the women, not neutral procedures for detecting early disease. Women equate mammograms with disease, not with merely early detection. For some, mammograms cause disease and put them at higher risk because of radiation exposure. Early diagnosis and treatment for many do not equate with cure, but with inevitable disease progression. Risk factors for breast cancer were not well understood and some women generated a unique set of risk factors that have no prior evidence in research literature, e.g., having large breasts. Having breast cancer means losses, deformity, remaining single, altered sexual behavior with a partner, and burdening one's family. There is little evidence of hope for cure in the interview data nor for surviving the diagnosis of breast cancer, even when detected early. Results to date have substantial implication for developing new outreach and educational messages.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA408774
Entities
People
- Ellen Phillips-angles
- Frances M. Lewis
- Lin Song
Organizations
- Seattle University