African-American women's perceptions of mammography screening

While mammography has been shown to decrease breast cancer mortality, many African-American women are not receiving annual screenings. African-American women's reasons for not having mammograms are not well understood. This study therefore surveyed 164 African-American women concerning barriers to mammography screening. Outreach coordinators in two urban and one rural site in Texas asked African-American women to complete a checklist about the barriers to mammography screening. The 23-item Mammography Barriers Checklist, which was developed based upon one of the author's clinical experience and the research literature, included both internal and external barriers to screening. Women in all three geographic areas identified fear of finding cancer and mammography cost as the most important reasons for not having mammograms. These results suggest that outreach strategies that address fears related to mammography screening and help women find low-cost mammography resources may be more effective than those focusing strictly on providing information.