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Health Education Research, Vol. 9, No. 3, 343-354, 1994
© 1994 Oxford University Press

other

A qualitative description of breast self-examination beliefs

Mary K. Salazar and William B. Carter1

Occupational Health Nursing, Department of Community Health Care Systems, University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195
1Pharmacoeconomics, Clinical Grants Division, Amgen Inc. Thousand Oaks, CA 93210, USA

For many women, performance of breast self-examination (BSE) may be a first-step approach towards the detection of breast cancer; yet, less than 40% of American women regularly perform this procedure. This paper describes the first phase of a study which was designed to gain an understanding of a group of working women's attitudes and beliefs about BSE. Exploratory interviews were conducted with 19 working women. A content analysis of these interviews resulted in the generation of a taxonomy of issues and concerns women had about BSE. The taxonomy ultimately provided the content for a decision model in a subsequent study. Three general categories and 12 subcategories of beliefs were identified: Knowledge and Attitudes (daily activities, other health examinations, health consequences and likelihood of disease), Performance Issues (too much time to do, too difficult, embarrassment about self-touch and embarrassment about false alarm) and Concerns about Others (role model, responsibility to maintain health, family/friends' opinions and health care providers' opinions). Descriptions of these categories were provided using the exact words of the interviewees. The results of this study suggest that despite increasing attention to this topic, much misinformation and misunderstanding about breast cancer and BSE continues to exist.


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