Patterns of Use Among Mammography, Breast Self-examination and Clinical Breast Examination

This is a qualitative, descriptive study of 198 women from two counties located in a north central state. The purpose of this study was to describe a group of women who already practice early breast cancer detection as evidenced by them already receiving mammograms. This study described frequency patterns of routine clinical breast examination (CBE) and performance of breast self-examination (BSE). Description was given to motivators and demographic breakdown as to reasons why or why not these women practiced all three types of early breast cancer detection as recommended by the American Cancer Society (ACS, 1999). Becker\u27s Health Belief Model (HBM) was used as the framework for this study. This study found the biggest motivator to be increased perceived susceptibility to cancer. Of the 198 participants in this study, 176 women received mammograms as recommended by the ACS, 79 women practiced BSE and 150 women received CBE as per guidelines established by the ACS. Only38 percent of women in this study were compliant with all three methods of breast cancer detection according to the recommendations of the ACS. Sixty-two percent of women in this study were not compliant at all with ACS guidelines or were only partially compliant. With an estimated VI 175,000 women to be diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999 at a national annual cost of $107 billion (ACS, 1999), it is imperative that women be educated and encouraged to practice all three forms of breast cancer detection in an effort to reduce cost, morbidity and mortality related to this disease