Predisposing Factors Associated with Compliance to Biennial Breast Screening among Centers with and without Nurses

• Published in: Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention Vol. 18; no. 3; pp. 739 - 747
• Main Authors: EDWARDS, Sarah A, CHIARELLI, Anna M, STEWART, Lindsay, MAJPRUZ, Vicky, RITVO, Paul, MAI, Verna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia, PA American Association for Cancer Research 01.03.2009
• Subjects: Aged; Biological and medical sciences; breast cancer; Breast Neoplasms - diagnosis; Breast Neoplasms - nursing; Breast Neoplasms - psychology; breast screening; Community Health Centers - organization & administration; compliance; Female; Humans; Interviews as Topic; Logistic Models; Mammography - psychology; Mammography - utilization; Mass Screening - psychology; Mass Screening - utilization; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; nurses; Patient Compliance - psychology; predisposing factors; Risk Factors; Surveys and Questionnaires; Tumors; Human; Center; Cancerology; Compliance; Health staff; Cause; Risk factor; Breast; Mammary gland; Medical screening; Nurse
• ISSN: 1055-9965; 1538-7755
• DOI: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-08-0928

Background: Previous research suggests that predisposing factors such as previous screening experience, participation in preventive health behaviors, and knowledge/beliefs about breast cancer and screening influence a woman's decision to make a timely return for a second screen. Methods: A stratified random sample of compliers and noncompliers to biennial screening were selected from a cohort of 51,242 women ages 50 to 65 years who had their initial screen at the Ontario Breast Screening Program. In total, 1,901 women were telephone-interviewed. The associations between predisposing factors and compliance were estimated separately for centers with and without nurses using logistic regression analyses adjusted for demographics and smoking status. Results: Women screened at nurse centers were less likely to comply if they thought women should stop having mammograms before age 70 years [odds ratio (OR), 0.39; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.19-0.79], did not consider mammograms very likely to find cancer (OR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.56-0.95), felt their likeliness of getting breast cancer was below average (OR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.54-0.89), or believed a high-fat diet was not an important risk factor for breast cancer (OR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.36-0.97). Women attending nurse centers were significantly more likely to comply if they sometimes had thoughts or worries about developing breast cancer (OR, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.10-1.80). Conclusions: Nurses at screening centers may reinforce a woman's knowledge or beliefs about breast cancer or screening and as a result increase their compliance to biennial breast screening. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(3):739–47)