Setting educational priorities for women's preventive health: measuring beliefs about screening across disease states

To measure women's beliefs about disease screening in a consistent manner across disease states to identify priority areas for educational and motivational interventions.

A cross-sectional, mailed survey of female patients, age > or =52, was conducted through a primary care practice-based research network. The Risk Behavior Diagnosis Scale, a validated 12-item instrument, was used to measure beliefs about disease severity, disease susceptibility, ability to obtain screening (self-efficacy), and response efficacy. These beliefs were measured for colon cancer, breast cancer, and osteoporosis.

One hundred twenty-eight surveys were returned from 425 women invited to participate (RR 30%). Significant differences in beliefs were noted across disease states for disease severity (F = 21.67, p < 0.001), disease susceptibility (F = 14.68, p < 0.001), self-efficacy (F = 42.85, p < 0.001), and response efficacy (F = 55.49, p < 0.001). Analysis by logistic regression indicated four beliefs to be associated with adherence to screening recommendations: colon cancer severity, colon cancer susceptibility, breast cancer screening self-efficacy, and osteoporosis screening self-efficacy (all p < 0.05).

Women hold varied beliefs about disease screening that are specific for different disease states. For the three diseases studied, priority areas for educational and motivational interventions should include beliefs about colon cancer severity, colon cancer susceptibility, breast cancer screening self-efficacy, and osteoporosis screening self-efficacy.