BREAST-CANCER SCREENING AMONG OLDER HISPANIC WOMEN - KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES, AND PRACTICES

A survey was conducted with 409 Hispanic and 138 Anglo women in Tucson , Arizona, to assess their knowledge of breast cancer and cancer scree ning tests, their attitudes toward breast cancer and cancer screening, and their use of screening tests. There were few differences between these two groups in use of breast cancer screening tests, with both gr oups falling well below the recommended levels of screening frequency. Clinical breast exam was most often used, followed by breast self-exa m, with mammography a distant third. Levels of knowledge about the ris ks for breast cancer and the ways to detect it were also low. Comparis on with national data show Arizona women to have lower rates of breast cancer screening than the national average; this may be due to the ab sence of the Medicaid program in Arizona. The rates for Tucson Hispani cs, although lower than that for Anglos, are comparable with the findi ngs of other studies. More needs to be done to alert all older women a bout breast cancer screening, but more specific attention needs to be paid to the population of older Hispanic women. We suggest some cultur ally relevant strategies to address this problem.