Engagement in breast cancer screening behaviors

To distinguish women who engaged in recommended breast cancer screening from those who did not.

Descriptive design, with quantitative measures.

Urban, county hospital serving many low-income clients.

119 women, age 51 to 80, who had not had mammograms in the last 13 months.

Nurse-conducted telephone interviews that incorporated a modified Profile of Mood States, Attitudes Towards Mammography Scale, Barriers Scale, and reports of engagement in mammography and clinical breast exam (CBE) in the last 13 months and breast self-exam (BSE) practice in the last 3 months.

Affect, beliefs, facilitators, and knowledge regarding screening; engagement in mammography, CBE, and BSE.

In discriminant analyses of engagement in mammography and CBE, affect, barriers, prior history of breast problems, and race were significant variables. In discriminant analysis of BSE, history of breast biopsy, family history of breast cancer, beliefs about screening and cancer, prior instruction in BSE, and being single were significant variables.

Variables that discriminated between use and non-use of professional screening were different from those that discriminated between use and non-use of BSE.

Nurses can promote professional breast screening by addressing women's negative affect, prior breast concerns, and barriers, especially among Caucasians. Nurses can promote monthly BSE by supporting realistic beliefs about screening and cancer as well as by demonstrating BSE, especially among married women.