CONFIRMATORY ANALYSIS OF OPINIONS REGARDING THE PROS AND CONS OF MAMMOGRAPHY

This investigation extends prior research to apply decision-making con structs from the transtheoretical model (TTM) of behavior change to ma mmography screening. Study subjects were 8,914 women ages 50-80, recru ited from 40 primarily rural communities in Washington State. Structur al equation modeling showed that favorable and unfavorable opinions ab out mammography (i.e., pros and cons) fit the observed data. Analysis of variance supported the associations between readiness to obtain scr eening (i.e., stage of adoption) and opinions about mammography (i.e., decisional balance) previously found in research using smaller sample s from another geographic region. This report extends these earlier st udies by using structural equation modeling, opinion scales based both on principal component analyses and on a priori definitions, a develo pmental sample and a confirmatory sample, and by sampling from a diffe rent geographic region. It is recommended that future research examine whether opinions regarding the cons of mammography are more individua lly specific than the pros.