Breast self-examination: the effects of prescribed frequency on adherence, accuracy, and detection ability.

The purpose of our study was to determine the effects of prescribed rates of breast self-examination (BSE) on reported frequency of BSE per year. Fifty-one women were divided at random into three groups: a weekly prescription, every-two-weeks prescription, and monthly prescription. All women were trained to competence prior to receiving their prescription for BSE. A repeated-measures ANOVA showed that all three groups of women significantly increased (p less than .05) the number of BSE steps performed after training. Significant (p less than .05) differences among groups were observed for reported BSE frequency. The women who were prescribed weekly exams averaged over 14 a year, the two-week group averaged over 11 a year, and the monthly group averaged over seven a year. It was concluded that BSE frequency could be enhanced by a more frequent prescription (e.g., weekly). These results require confirmation with more representative (i.e., older) women prior to generalization.