Community-based intervention to promote breast cancer awareness and screening: The Korean experience

Abstract

BackgroundThere are many differences in culture, community identity, community participation, and ownership between communities in Western and Asian countries; thus, it is difficult to adopt the results of community intervention studies from Western countries. In this study, we conducted a multicity, multicomponent community intervention trial to correct breast cancer myths and promote screening mammography for women living in an urban community in Korea.MethodsA 6-month, 2-city community intervention trial was conducted. In the intervention city, 480 women were surveyed at baseline and 7 months later to evaluate the effects of the intervention program. Strategies implemented in the intervention city included community outreach and clinic and pharmacy-based in-reach strategies.ResultsThis study showed a 20.4-percentage-point decrease in myths about the link between cancer and breast size, a 19.2-percentage-point decrease in myths concerning mammography costs, and a 14.1-percentage-point increase in intention to undergo screening mammography. We also saw a 23.4-percentage-point increase in the proportion of women at the action stage of the transtheoretical model in the intervention city. In the comparison city, smaller decreases and increases were observed.ConclusionsOur study showed the value of an intervention study aimed at reducing belief in breast cancer myths in an urban community in Korea. The invention also made women more likely to undergo mammography in future.

Maltese Translation and Adaptation of Champion’s Health Belief Model Scale and the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire for Breast Screening Among Maltese Women

“…A controversial HBM subscale is perceived barriers (ibid) because of the diverse individual and environmental barriers present in different communities (Park et al, 2011). However, none of the items of this subscale in the original version of the questionnaire were omitted because women considered all items to be equally important.…”

COMMUNITY PHARMACISTS’ INVOLVEMENT IN BREAST CANCER HEALTH PROMOTION IN UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (UAE)

“…These results are highly significant considering the goal to improve breast cancer awareness in UAE. Pharmacists are easily accessible and recognized as experts in matters of health; therefore, they could offer public health interventions more conveniently than other health care providers (Park et al, 2011). Furthermore, community pharmacists are the ideal site for credible counseling for a large segment of the population because pharmacists have frequent contact with the public, have extended opening hours and are widely distributed geographically.…”

Promoting the early detection of cancer: A systematic review of community pharmacy-based education and screening interventions

“…The global quality scores, based on the individual component scores, divided the studies to strong (n=1) [16], moderate (n=5) [17][18][19][20][21] and weak (n=4) [22][23][24][25]. The study components most commonly assessed as weak were confounders and the data collection methodology.…”

“…Study locations were the US (n=5) [17][18][19][20]24], Australia (n=2) [22,23], Germany (n=1) [16], Italy (n=1) [21] and South Korea(n=1) [25]. The number of participants included in the studies ranged from 91 [23] to 14,041 [21], while the duration including follow up ranged from four weeks [19] to two years [16].…”

“…Types of cancer targeted by the studies included colorectal cancer (n=4) [19,[22][23][24]; colorectal and prostate cancer (n=1) [17]; prostate cancer (n=1) [16]; breast cancer (n=2) [18,25]; cervical cancer (n=1) [21]; and breast and cervical cancer (n=1) [20,21].…”