No abstract

Compliance with screening mammography recommendations is low. Consequently, a community-wide program offering $50 mammograms at 29 radiology facilities was implemented. The program was promoted on a local TV news show and women 35 years and older were instructed to call a referral phone bank. If the caller met eligibility criteria, she received an information packet that assigned her to one of the facilities; it was her responsibility to schedule the appointment. At one facility, a strategy to increase compliance was piloted using a controlled design. Of the 96 subjects assigned to that clinic, 47 received an incentive coupon combined with a prompt in addition to the information packet and 49 received no coupon. The coupon was redeemable for a nutrition information kit when the subject appeared at her appointment. Results indicated that the incentive group had a significantly higher rate of appointment making than the control group (81 vs. 59%). Of subjects in both groups who made appointments, nearly 100% kept them. The intervention appeared to be cost-effective with a self-referred sample.

No abstract

The present study evaluated the effects of a refresher instructional audiotape on breast self-examination (BSE) proficiency after proficiency was trained to criteria. Subjects ( N = 46) were trained individually in an initial session to perform BSE competently. Following this session, subjects were randomly assigned to one of two testing conditions: tape or no tape; the test session occurred one week after the initial session. Tape subjects were tested using the tape. Results indicated that subjects in both conditions were practicing BSE at high proficiency levels one week post-training. The use of the tape in no way compromised proficiency, and in fact it resulted in improved (though statistically nonsignificant) levels of specific proficiency variables (i.e., search duration and proper use of fingers). The tape may be a valuable tool in maintaining BSE proficiency during home-practice once BSE is trained.

No abstract