Abstract
Barriers to screening and early detection often result in cancers in low-income and minority women diagnosed at stages too advanced for optimal treatment. This randomized controlled trial examined whether a personalized form (PF) letter containing generic cancer information and a personalized tailored (PT) letter containing minimally tailored individualized risk factor information based on medical records data affected breast and cervical cancer screening among 1574 urban low-income and minority women. The personalized form-letter group was significantly more likely to schedule a screening appointment and to have undergone a Pap test and mammography within 1 year after the intervention than were the tailored letter and control groups (P<0.001 for all comparisons). Personalized tailored letters that contain individualized cancer risk factor information may decrease the likelihood of receiving cancer screening among medically underserved low-income and minority women, but personalized form letters that contain generic cancer information may improve these rates in this disadvantaged population.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 123-132 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Patient Education and Counseling |
Volume | 50 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 1 2003 |
Keywords
- Mammography
- Minority groups
- Pap test
- Patient prompting
- Screening
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Medicine