Targeted Intervention Strategies to Increase and Maintain Mammography Utilization Among African American Women

Objectives We assessed the impact of a theory based culturally relevant intervention designed to increase mammography screening among African American women in 8 underserved counties in Alabama Methods Using principles derived from the Stages of Change Community Health Advisor and Community Empowerment models we developed strategies to increase mammography screening Trained volunteers (N = 143) provided tailored messages to encourage adoption and maintenance of mammography screening We collected baseline and follow-up data on 1513 women in the communities targeted for the intervention Our goal was to decrease the number of women in stage 1 (never screened) while increasing the number of women in stage 2 (infrequently screened) and stage 3 (regularly screened) Results At baseline 14% (n = 211) of the women were in stage 1 16%(n = 247) were in stage 2 and 70% (n = 1055) were in stage 3 After the 2 year intervention 4% (n = 61) of the women remained in stage 1 20% (n = 306) were in stage 2 and 76% (n = 1146) were in stage 3 Conclusions Tailored motivational messages and peer support can increase mammography screening rates for African American women (Am J Public Health 2010 100 2526-2531 doi 10 2105/AJPH 2009 167312)