Informing women about their breast cancer risks: Truth and consequences

We assessed the extent to which informing women about their risk for breast cancer affected their perceived 10-year and lifetime risks for getting bre ast cancer, their emotional reactions toward getting breast cancer, and the ir intentions to get mammograms. In a pre- to posttest design, 121 women we re given their 10-year risk of getting breast cancer with or without being compared with women their age and race at lowest risk. Women's perceptions of their 10-year risks became more congruent (i.e., more accurate) with the ir actual risk. Participants were more accurate when they received their ow n risk without being compared with women at lowest risk. Women who received only their own risk estimate reported being at lower risk than other women . Overall, women reported that obtaining their 10-year risk estimate either did not affect or increased their intentions to get mammograms. These resu lts suggest that giving women their individual risk of getting breast cance r improves accuracy while also enhancing their feelings that they are at lo wer risk than other women. Counter to many theories of health behavior, red ucing women's perceived risk of breast cancer did not lower their intention s to get mammograms. Implications for the communication of breast cancer ri sk are discussed.