Incentives for breast self-examination: role of the calendar

Calendars are generally believed to be useful in promoting compliance with breast self-examination (BSE). To test this belief, calendars were distributed to 1,166 women in the Canadian National Breast Screening Study for comparison with 1,027 other participants who received no calendar. Recipients were asked to note their BSE findings each month on the calendar and to return calendars at the next annual screen. Self-reported BSE frequencies and BSE competence scores revealed no significant difference between the recipients and nonrecipients at three points in time: one year prior to, at time of, and one year after calendar distribution. Only 136 women returned calendars as requested. Their improvement in the test period did not differ significantly from that shown by the control group or the nonreturners. Calendars do not seem to be useful in a population receiving annual screening and BSE instruction.