Changing breast self-examination behavior

Breast self-examination instruction was presented to 130 women. Four instructional methods used were: modeling alone, modeling plus guided practice, modeling plus self-monitoring, and modeling plus peer support. Follow-up data were collected at three- and six-month intervals. Data analyses revealed that, although the study population as a whole made statistically significant changes in breast self-examination behavior, no statistically significant outcomes were related to the dependent variables of frequency and knowledge of self-examination and confidence in ability to detect breast abnormalities between subjects in the modeling alone method--which served as the control--and subjects in the other three instructional methods.