Breast cancer screening practices among African American women: a Black feminist thought perspective

The aim of this study is to understand mammography initiation and mammography screening barriers from the lens of African American women. A qualitative descriptive approach was used to describe the experiences of 15 African American women, aged 45 and above, using Black Feminist Thought (Collins, 2000). Black Feminist Thought was used to give these women a voice that gives rise to the validation of their experiences—from their individual perspectives. Using the qualitative descriptive approach, participants provided detailed accounts of their mammography screening practices and their historical and present views on health, race, gender, and the influence of the African American church and pastor. This current study uncovered multiple layers of health and mammography screening decisions identified through 7 key themes: staying healthy, why mammograms are important, the mammogram experience, accessing healthcare, mammograms in the African American community, promoting mammograms, and being an African American woman. These themes were cross cutting and coalesced around four larger contextual areas. This study adds to the body of literature in understanding mammography decisions and fills a knowledge gap. The BFT perspective may help researchers and other stakeholders develop and implement targeted approaches towards increasing mammography screening rates among African American women, which may narrow breast cancer mortality rates between African American and White women