[Effects of information on and reflection of women's pain experience during mammography]

At mammography, strong compression of the breasts is required to reduce the radiation dose and to obtain radiographic images of high quality. In recent times the mass media have received a number of letters with complaints about the painfulness of the examination and an unsympathetic reception by the personnel. The aim of this study was to find out what effect information and a special manner of reception ("reflection") had on the experience of pain at mammography. Reflection meant that the X-ray nurse, in an accepting manner, reflected the feelings and facts which the woman expressed. The study was performed as a 2 x 2 factorial design. One independent variable was a letter of information, with the two alternatives letter of information and no letter of information, and another was reflection, with the two alternatives reflection and no reflection. Seventy-six women were randomly allocated to these four conditions. The letter of information stated why the examination was to be performed, how it is done and how it is usually experienced. The results showed that all women in all groups experienced relatively little pain. They considered that they were well received and were satisfied with the information. The difference between the groups was small. There was a tendency for those who were both received with reflection and were given a letter of information to be more satisfied with the examination as compared with the other women. A larger number of women in this former group than in the other groups stated reasons for their assessment. This result was significant.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)