HEALTH BELIEFS AND COMPLIANCE WITH MAMMOGRAPHY-SCREENING RECOMMENDATIONS IN ASYMPTOMATIC WOMEN

The utility of the health belief model (HBM) for predicting compliance with the American Cancer Society recommendations for mammography scre ening over and above demographics, knowledge, physician input, and obj ective risk for breast cancer was assessed. In all, 615 predominantly middle-class White women, age 35-92, were surveyed in 1987-1989. A mul tiple indicator measurement model of the HBM constructs of perceived s usceptibility, severity, benefits, and barriers was verified with conf irmatory factor analysis. Physician input alone accounted for 25% of t he variance in compliance; HBM constructs alone, 16%. HBM constructs a ccounted for 7% additional variance in compliance beyond all other pre dictors and thus may be a fruitful focus for interventions to increase screening rates.