REMOVING BARRIERS TO BREAST CANCER SCREENING AMONG ETHNIC MINORITIES IN TEXAS

Purpose (a): This project seeks to reduce breast cancer mortality among ethnic minorities in Dallas County, Texas through an integrated breast cancer prevention program that includes outreach and education, delivery of screening services, follow-up navigation and screening behavior maintenance. While perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits and cues to action are important predictors of health-seeking behaviors, removal of perceived barriers has been found to be the most important factor in moving people from inactivity to action. This research seeks to answer the question: Does this program significantly reduce the perceived barriers to mammography screening among the participants? Methods (b): Participants had a pre-survey assessing their knowledge, attitude and behavior about breast cancer determinants and prevention as well as their perceived severity of breast cancer, perceived susceptibility to it, perceived benefit of regular screening and perceived barriers to regular screening. This was followed by up to 8 weeks of education and a post-survey. McNemar’s tests were done to compare the pre- and post-surveys on questions relating to perceived barriers to screening and mammogram use. Results (c): A significant reduction in perceived barrier to breast cancer screening was found among study participants. There was also a significant improvement in mammogram use among them during the intervention. Conclusions (d): The integrated breast cancer prevention program leads to a significant reduction in perceived barriers to screening with consequent improvement in mammogram use in study participants.