Older women and mammography screening behavior: do possible selves contribute?

This study sought to explore the contribution of the self-concept to older women's adherence to regular mammography screening behavior. The PRECEDE and health belief model concepts were incorporated with a measure of the women's future selves to determine whether the self-concept adds to our ability to predict screening. A self-administered questionnaire was completed by 210 community-dwelling women ages 50 to 75 years, recruited from urban and rural women's groups. Logistic regression analyses revealed that predictors of adherence were clinical breast examination, physician recommendation, age, barriers, benefits, feared health-related possible self, and self-efficacy in the feared domain. The addition of the self measures significantly improved the overall fit of the model. Implications for theory development, practice, and future research are discussed.