Cancer screening practices and attitudes: comparison of low-income women in three ethnic groups

Based on the Health Belief Model, this study investigates differences among ethnically diverse, low-income women in the USA to inform better outreach strategies to encourage participation in the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC)- sponsored breast and cervical cancer early detection program.

Program-eligible, low-income, Hispanic, Vietnamese and Cambodian American women who were over the age of 40 volunteered to be interviewed in their first language for the study. A total of 78 women completed the interviews.

All three samples of women were more likely to perceive barriers to having a mammogram performed compared to the non-minority normative group. Hispanic and Vietnamese women were more similar in their health beliefs and behaviors than Vietnamese and Cambodian women.

This study supports other research on the barriers and health belief differences found among ethnic minority women in the USA. Further, these findings suggest that it is not advisable to collapse ethnic groups into general categories such as 'Asian' when planning cancer control strategies, as differences were found by country of origin.