Willingness to pay for mammography: item development and testing among five ethnic groups

The goal of this study was to develop a willingness to pay (WTP) question f or mammography that is appropriate for low income, ethnically-diverse women . Through qualitative research with 50 low income women of five ethnic grou ps we developed both a WTP question and a willingness to travel question (W TT). After being refined through interviews with 41 women, these questions were pilot tested on a random sample of 52 low income, ethnically-diverse w omen in the San Francisco area. Results show that the concepts underlying W TP and WTT were culturally appropriate to the five ethnicities in this stud y. Analyses generally confirm the validity of the WTP and WTT questions. As expected, WTP was associated with household income, perceived risk of canc er, and knowledge that one needs a mammogram even after a clinical breast e xamination. Despite the small samples, WTP varied among the ethnic groups. Additionally, WTT was moderately correlated with the natural log of WTP (r = 0.58, P < 0.001). These questions are now in use in a larger clinical tri al and future analyses will explore willingness to pay and willingness to t ravel within and across the ethnic groups. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Irelan d Ltd. All rights reserved.