Paskett E D, Tatum C, Wilson A, Dignan M, Velez R
Department of Public Health Sciences, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1063, USA.
J Cancer Educ. 1996 Winter;11(4):216-20. doi: 10.1080/08858199609528431.
Although incidence rates of breast cancer are lower among African American women than white women, mortality rates among African American women are higher, especially for women of lower socioeconomic levels. Reasons for this situation include the lesser use of breast cancer screening examinations by low-income, primarily African American women, late stage of diagnosis, and delays in treatment.
As part of community outreach and public health clinic inreach programs for the Forsyth County Cancer Screening Project, approximately 908 African American women who reside in low-income housing communities were targeted for educational efforts related to breast cancer screening. Early in the project, it was discovered that many of the women were unfamiliar with mammography and had very little awareness of how the entire examination was conducted. This low level of knowledge was particularly important because it was a barrier for obtaining regular mammography. A photoessay depicting the process of getting a mammogram was developed and used in community outreach efforts in three formats: in educational classes, as a display in the housing communities, and in physicians' offices. The acceptability of this photoessay to communicate knowledge of and reduce fears about mammography was assessed through evaluation surveys in interviews with a sample of 47 women from the target population.
Overall, these women liked the photoessay and felt that it provided knowledge about mammography and reduced fears associated with anticipating mammography.
Strategies such as this may be ideal to communicate important information about cancer prevention and control in low-literacy populations.
尽管非裔美国女性的乳腺癌发病率低于白人女性，但非裔美国女性的死亡率更高，尤其是社会经济水平较低的女性。造成这种情况的原因包括低收入的主要是非裔美国女性较少进行乳腺癌筛查，诊断时处于晚期，以及治疗延迟。
作为福赛思县癌症筛查项目社区外展和公共卫生诊所内展项目的一部分，约908名居住在低收入住房社区的非裔美国女性成为乳腺癌筛查相关教育工作的目标对象。在项目早期，发现许多女性不熟悉乳房X光检查，对整个检查过程的了解也很少。这种低知识水平尤为重要，因为它是定期进行乳房X光检查的障碍。制作了一篇描绘乳房X光检查过程的图文并茂的文章，并以三种形式用于社区外展工作：在教育课程中、在住房社区展示以及在医生办公室展示。通过对47名目标人群样本进行访谈的评估调查，评估了这篇图文并茂的文章在传播乳房X光检查知识和减少对其恐惧方面的可接受性。
总体而言，这些女性喜欢这篇图文并茂的文章，并认为它提供了乳房X光检查的知识，减少了与预期进行乳房X光检查相关的恐惧。
这样的策略可能是向低文化水平人群传播癌症预防和控制重要信息的理想方式。
