Breast cancer screening among African American women: adherence to current recommendations

Breast cancer remains one of the leading causes of cancer death among African American women, and rates of mammography screening for African American women remain lower than rates for their Caucasian counterparts. The purpose of the current study was to explore the reasons for nonadherence to American Cancer Society breast screening guidelines among African American women who had not received a mammogram within the past year. Participants included 91 African American women between 40 and 84 years of age recruited from churches, housing projects, and a health fair at a historically African American university who had not received a mammogram within the past 12 months. Findings revealed that 36% of participants had never received a mammogram, 43% did not have their breasts examined by their doctor once a year, 55% did not perform monthly self-examination, and 23% did not know how to examine their breasts for breast cancer. The most frequently reported reason for not getting a mammogram was because the participant's doctor had not suggested it.