A PROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY INVESTIGATING PSYCHOSOCIAL PREDICTORS OF ATTENDANCE AT A MOBILE BREAST SCREENING SERVICE

This study aimed to examine whether knowledge, attitudes and concerns predicted attendance at the mobile Breast X-Ray Programme in Sydney. A cohort study design was used, whereby women were surveyed prior to th e implementation of the program, and two years later records were chec ked to determine whether they had attended for screening. Telephone in terviews were sought with randomly selected women aged 45 to 70 years living in the central Sydney area (the screening Mn's catchment area). A total of 285 women was surveyed (response rate: 50 per cent). Of th ese, 86 (30 per cent) subsequently attended at the mobile van and 199 did not. Attendance did not appear to be related to any of the followi ng factors: knowledge; attitudes; prior experience; perceived suscepti bility and morbid concern in relation to breast cancer; the amount of information about screening mammography to which a woman had been expo sed. The results are interpreted in light of methodological considerat ions plus findings from our other research.